Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It would be up to Sony Pictures Spain (or some Sony EU dept) to investigate it. Sony Pictures NA likely wouldn't do anything about this. I'm not sure what tele1962 is alluding to. A release that's not a TT one? They rip off other releases too, there is even another release of that movie in Spain too released prior to the Resen one...

I am saying Amazon Spain are themselves carrying a full catalogue of Resen releases..............surely they would have long before now realised this was a counterfeit operation?

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by tele1962

For a company that is accused of pirating they look legit to me?

http://www.amazon.es/El-Cardenal-BD-...7053091&sr=1-1

Well, here's an interesting tidbit of information. On the back of that cover it lists No. Expte. ICAA 129.535.

ICAA stands for El Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales or The Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture that plans policies, film support and audiovisual production.

Here is the web site:

http://www.mecd.gob.es/403.html

If you go to this page you can download a spreadsheet of film, DVD, and Blu-ray releases:

http://www.mecd.gob.es/403.html

On the first tab, line 13192, it lists "Cardenal, El" with an expediente (record) number of 129535 (see above) and lists the distributor as, none other, "RESEARCH ENTERTAINMENT S.L." which is Resen.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by tele1962

I am saying Amazon Spain are themselves carrying a full catalogue of Resen releases..............surely they would have long before now realised this was a counterfeit operation?

You overestimate how much these retailers do overseas. Hell, even in the US bootlegs are sold on Amazon. Believing they're legit simply because it's sold on Amazon doesn't make much sense.

The exact same thing is happening in Italy with the label Studio4K. Copies are sold on Amazon.it still, it's not a way to measure the legality of anything

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Well, here's an interesting tidbit of information. On the back of that cover it lists No. Expte. ICAA 129.535.

ICAA stands for El Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales or The Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture that plans policies, film support and audiovisual production.

Here is the web site:

http://www.mecd.gob.es/403.html

If you go to this page you can download a spreadsheet of film, DVD, and Blu-ray releases:

http://www.mecd.gob.es/403.html

On the first tab, line 13192, it lists "Cardenal, El" with an expediente (record) number of 129535 (see above) and lists the distributor as, none other, "RESEARCH ENTERTAINMENT S.L." which is Resen.

I'm not sure that's indicative of anything. It looks like you can simply apply to get your entry approved by the ministry there. I doubt they're verifying anything with the rightful copyright holders. Getting these numbers could be the way they're getting away with this in fact.

[rdodolak]

In terms of Mysterious Island it's listed in the first tab, line 40148.

EDIT: Here's a document, in English, about the ICAA.

http://www.mecd.gob.es/dms/mecd/cultura-mecd/areas-cultura/cine/informacion-general/guia_icaa/guia_icaa.doc

[schlock]

Considering Sony doesn't seem to want to do much with their older catalog themselves, and that these are not huge selling titles in the grand scheme of things, these under-the-radar bootlegs coming out in Spain are probably just not worth the effort for Sony. After the Sony hack in the US, and rampant bootlegging on major new films all over the globe, some small outfit in Spain running off a couple of thousand copies of a film from the 60's is probably the last thing on Sony's mind. And if it's a foreign branch of Sony that would be in control of acting on this, I doubt they would even know these older films in their own library. I'm not saying they are definitely bootlegs, but all signs definitely point that way. And considering the number of bootlegs on Amazon US to this day (Televista anyone?), I don't give any creed to "if it's on Amazon, it must be legit".

[tallrichard]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

Yes, but Resen is still violating Sony's copyright. Both Sony and Twilight Time can and should go after Resen.

Like many companies, TT's copyright may only be for the US...

Arrow also has some titles in Europe that someone else distributes in the US.

My bet is that TT is covering hoping to stop someone from importing Resen's titles and eroding their business.

A true bootlegger wouldn't re-label the title with another company logo or ID but would just make a copy and include it in the Blu-ray case...

[wormraper]

aren't Resen's titles BD-R's also?

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by wormraper

aren't Resen's titles BD-R's also?

Although a few have been reported as BD-Rs there are a lot of releases that members' have reported as being BD-ROMs.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by tallrichard

A true bootlegger wouldn't re-label the title with another company logo or ID but would just make a copy and include it in the Blu-ray case...

I've seen bootleg CDs where they have done them up in mini-LP packaging and with a record label that said artist have never been associated with. Happens a lot more than you can imagine. Professionally looking with pressed discs too.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I'm not sure that's indicative of anything. It looks like you can simply apply to get your entry approved by the ministry there. I doubt they're verifying anything with the rightful copyright holders. Getting these numbers could be the way they're getting away with this in fact.

Maybe so, but it's looking like it's not so cut and dry. According to Note 2 in that spreadsheet it states:

"(2) The expiration date refers to the rights of commercial distribution of the film not the expiration of the rating"

[UseY0ur1llusi0n]

Originally Posted by wormraper

aren't Resen's titles BD-R's also?

Not all of them, some are properly pressed BD50s, but they're still bootlegs.

[Blu Titan]

First Men in the Moon looks terrific...great release from TT. Looking foward to watching the rest of my TT order during the week.

[Blu Titan]

Given a choice I rather support the NA labels...obviously, I would never purchase a bootleg and would never support a company who enagages in that practice.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Release dates and some overlapping titles:

[snip]
Bells of St. Mary's
TT: Nov. 2013
Res: Jan 2014
[snip]

Not that it invalidates what you posted, but I thought I'd point out that The Bells of St. Mary's is from Olive, not Twilight Time.

[filmmusic]

So, it seems noone has ordered Solomon and Sheba?
I see only comments on JTTCOTE and FMITM.
Still waiting for mine to arrive..

[Widescreenfilmguy]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

So, it seems noone has ordered Solomon and Sheba?
I see only comments on JTTCOTE and FMITM.
Still waiting for mine to arrive..

I did, ordered 4 out of 5.... I don't care for Mel Gibson. Sadly my order is still pending 😞

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by brasil

Well, I guess this suggests that Amazon's claims of trying to eliminate bootlegging with their new selling rules that essentially eliminated small individual sellers on their website was 1000% hogwash, as I thought.

Guess bootlegging is fine by Amazon as long as it's done big enough for Amazon to profit from.

All it would take is a letter from Sony's legal team and Amazon would discontinue selling them....that is a fact. Why nothing has been done?

[asmodeux21]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

So, it seems noone has ordered Solomon and Sheba?
I see only comments on JTTCOTE and FMITM.
Still waiting for mine to arrive..

"Solomon and Sheba" on blu ray looks fantastic. You are in for a real treat.

[RalphoR]

Since the Resen version of Mysterious Island has the high probability of being a bootleg.....the small chance it could be legit might be that the exclusively rights to it has run out for TT and Sony could have a deal with Resen to release it. Doubtful but stranger things have happened.