[Groop] Mark's call

Tone Tone at moon-shine.net
Tue Mar 27 07:02:36 PDT 2007


Alexander,
	While I like the idea of the Groop community coming together and
organizing a compilation of Groo comics, there are a few problems I see
in the plan.
	First off, with at least roughly a dozen people involved there
is no guarantee everyone would digitize all their respective comics and
pages in the same way (file format, file sizes, image resolution, image
compression, page layout, and of course color quality), so viewing it
later on it its compiled Groop form might prove inconsistent and maybe
even annoying.
	Secondly, somehow I think even if the initial intent is for only
people in the Groop sharing it, I still suspect at least sections of it
would leak out to the general public. With that in mind, while I love
the idea of Groo spreading to the rest of the world audience like some
mild flu epidemic, I would hate to think the public's first impression
of Groo was in a non-consistent amateur-produced format AND (most
importantly) I would really hate it if Mark, Sergio, and everyone else
involved with the original creation were excluded from potential income
potential. I want to support them where I can because it makes them
happy and that in turn will most likely drive them to create more happy
Groo stories. Creating Groo has been a profession of theirs, so it is
part of how they earn a living. If any Groo fans truly enjoy Groo in
even a little way they should take pride in being even a tiny part of
keeping the Groo creative team afloat.
	I know this may sound Elitist of me since I already have a
pretty complete Groo collection, but for people in even just the Groop,
who do not have a complete collection, what is to guarantee they will in
fact purchase those missing Groo comic issues from their original
collections after they have read through the compilation? Once looked
through and permanently available for convenient viewing, the personal
incentive to buy the actual respective comic books would die down a bit.
	This aspect of digitizing comic collections also holds true for
the general public of course. Some might argue that Sergio and Mark have
already made their earnings from the distribution of their first
publications, and these days dealers are basically making the profits of
"inflated" comic prices due to their age, etc. However, if people stop
asking for older issues of Groo at their local comic shops or stop
buying them from on-line dealers, then the drive to sell Groo
diminishes, and thus a loss of interest to distribute at the wholesale
level, etc. Unfortunately even the world of Groo is based on supply and
demand.

	While I know eBay has convenient safeguards to protect potential
buyers from purchasing illegal merchandise, I personally think in this
case it would be best if Mark directly handles it. In this instance the
infringement is very blatant. Also, it is not every day someone directly
associated with the original creation of a work is made personally aware
of a copyright abuse such as this.
	If one of us notifies eBay, all eBay will most likely do is give
a warning to the seller or MAYBE terminate their account. A seller, who
is apparently as conniving as this particular guy, will just get himself
another free e-mail account on yahoo, hotmail, or whatever and set up a
new account all over again to be running again in less than a month.
	I would MUCH rather see us gather the information for Mark, then
have Mark inform Sergio and the guys, so they can notify their lawyers.
You KNOW once lawyers are involved they will track down WHATEVER
monetary penalties might be involved like a pack of wolves following a
blood trail in the snow. Mark and his lawyers could in fact possibly
communicate directly with eBay to obtain information on the buyer, as
well as continue to gather details about ongoing illegal sales until the
culprit is located and possibly even caught by the proper authorities. I
believe Groo was distributed internationally, so I would think this
seller might be in violation of international copyright laws. I do not
know the various laws involved, but I would guess that might even mean
the potential lawsuit earnings for Sergio and mark could be higher.
	If Mark and Sergio manage to sue the bastard, I just REALLY hope
they do not decide to get lottery syndrome, where a jackpot winner quits
his/her job and retires right away! If anything, since it was Groop
members, who first noticed "komic_kapers", we should be entitled to some
of the lawsuit bounty. You know what that means Mark & Sergio? We
Groopies do not want any money. Heck, we do not even want any kopins! We
just want more Groo! ...even if that means it involves a little mulch...
or cheese dip... AND/or... pirates. :)
_TONE_







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