This is an interesting one, just listed the DVD of The Day Of The Triffids from Cheezy Flicks.

Didn't know anything about this but since I got an email today through ebay from this guy.
It did sell and I did refund and cancel the sale, very funny and was only found on amazon.uk in a comment under the reviews.

Received a message from an ebay member and this is what was said:

New message from: 1234mike0 (466Turquoise Star)
Hello.

I understand that you may have purchased this disc, but it is a bootleg copy of my property. I am asking you kindly, please remove it from your listings and do not sell it on eBay.

I am the copyright holder to "The Day of the Triffids", a film released in 1963. The film is copyrighted throughout the world. My ownership is registered in Volume 9921, page 735, of the Library of Congress.

I sued this disc's manufacturer, Cheezyflicks, for copyright infringement in 2015. I won on May 2, 2016. The case number is 2:15-cv-03541-TJH-AJW Document 56, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles. Many discs had been sold prior to this.

Please remove your listing right away. Rather than directing a complaint directly to eBay's copyright verification department, I always send a warning - although a warning is not necessary. However, if the listing remains up a filing I will have to file a complaint. As a result your selling privileges may be suspended, and this could last up to three months.

When any of these bootlegs appear on eBay other sellers appear. Other sellers need only a single appearance as justification.

If the item remains up I will have to file a complaint, so please understand. In any case I am attaching two rulings with court documents as proof,

Thanks sincerely,

Michael Hyatt,
copyright owner

https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2:2015cv03541/617930/70

The Day Of The Triffids was released in 1962 iirc.
Does he only go after Cheezy Flicks releases? I can see some other DVD distros listed for this title but idk if that info is correct...
Second Sight Films Ltd (2001)
BBC Video (2003)
Westlake (2003)
Frolic Pictures (2018)

Maybe he gets money from the others, idk.


Edit:
IMDB has 1963 and some other sites do too, wiki has 1962 noted as UK release (it's a UK film) and
https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/day-triffids-1962


Edit2:
Ok so apparently this Michael Hyatt is a "fan" that restored the original film,

^quote from 2018

If he's an American it's a little sad that this UK classic is now owned by a foreigner.


Edit3:
Surely this DVD wouldn't be worth much used, how much did you sell it for?

Cheapest UK DVD (R2), Screenbound Picture release, new is around $20aud plus shipping on ebay.
Cheapest AU DVD (R0/All), RBC Entertainment release, new is $10aud free shipping on ebay.

Does the wording of this message bother anybody else?

"My property". "I am the copyright holder".

Like what, is he a solo operator of the copyright holder? Usually movie licenses are held by businesses, not individuals, except in rare cases, so really, what he should be saying is that he is speaking in behalf of the property owner and talk about how they're the copyright holder.

I mean looking it up it seems Cheezy Flicks is definitely sketchy. But so's this message.

It was 9 bucks so its not a big deal, just wanted to clear stuff.

Was very upset and contacted ebay but my wife said end it so there's no issue.
I felt this was a threat:
"Please remove your listing right away. Rather than directing a complaint directly to eBay's copyright verification department, I always send a warning - although a warning is not necessary. However, if the listing remains up a filing I will have to file a complaint. As a result your selling privileges may be suspended, and this could last up to three months."

But again its only 9 bucks and I really don't give a s**t to fight it, just want to post what a POS this guy is.

This reminds me of the Laurel and Hardy stuff, their silent stuff is owned by some fool and he left it in his garage not letting others save the films so it all
got destroyed and now the old image DVDs are the only way to get them.

I'm also reminded about how some arab guy kept hounding fansubbers for years when they tried to release UFO Robo Grendizer in some form or another, claiming he was the copyright holder (he wasn't) and had them pulled.

Another note, the funny thing is when I search up on dvdbeaver they show all but the cheezy flicks release, all that I believe you have posted
above.

They are all from the same LD rip, faded colors and all.
Even close to the end of the DVD I have had LD drop outs, and the images posted on dvdbeaver look the same
as this DVD.

Unless Ebay directly messages you and/or removes the listing themselves, you should never comply with scammy messages from another Ebay member. That message should have been reported directly to Ebay's fraud/spoof department. Maybe he's telling the truth, or maybe he's not, regardless you're selling a used copy of a movie you purchased in good faith as a legitimate product and it is for Ebay to determine if it's bootleg or not.

Agree but I didn't want to start a fight with my wife over 9 bucks.
She insisted that I end the listing.

I did also contact ebay but they have changed their contact and it seems that its chat only now.
It was very hard for them to understand that I felt the message was rude.

WTF is he talking about RE: the Library of Congress? Is Day of the Triffids more respected than I realize or is he insinuating that Congress has a record of every copyrighted movie ever?

The whole thing sounds sketchy as hell. I wonder if we have any lawyers who could give us a more detailed analysis.

I mean, lawyers are rich guys so there's gotta be at least a couple who collected Laserdiscs back in the day, too!

Just got a message back from ebay.

So I'll relist it and if ebay feels they need to remove it they can.
They never removed any of those bootleg beatles ultimate live LDs, that guy must have sold 40 of them.

RE: Report a message SR#


Hello R,



I hope that you are in good health. Thank you for getting back to us with more information for your report. My name is Asthav and I am glad to assist you.



I have reviewed the message that the member '1234mike0' had sent to you. In this case, if they had any issue with the item, they should have contacted us. I can see the message from this user sounds rude enough.



You are right that since you have bought the item then you can sell it on eBay. Due to this, I have taken a note of this user and the situation is dealt with accordingly. You have no need to worry about anything else!



I wish you luck for all your future eBay transactions!



Kind Regards,

Asthav K.
eBay Trust & Safety

If it's in the Library of Congress, why can't you find it?

https://www.loc.gov/film-and-videos/?q=triffids
No results found for triffids

Unofficial releases can happen, I bought a legit "Kind of Blue" Mono+Stereo release in Chicago few years back and turns out it was a non-official UK release.

My piano jazz teacher has been fighting copyright evasion for years from French and Italian labels repressing vinyls without authorization. At least Bob Sinclar was classy enough to pay royalties on sampling used in Africanism and Africanism II.

Julien