Is Amazon a pirate DVD sponsor? Part II
p2pnet news | Advertising:- “Amazon, should check the stuff they sell or the integrity of their suppliers.”
That’s Rafael Venegas in a comment post to catflap’s Is Amazon a pirate DVD sponsor?
And, “Confirmed,” says Venegas.
In his article, catflap states, “Amazon earns revenue from apparent pirate DVD shops and owns the ad company (A9) which sells ads promoting apparent illegal pirate dvds.”
Now, “Just for the heck of it, I did a Google search for Amazon and the name of my father (Amazon ‘Guillermo Venegas‘),” says Venegas, going on:
I found a CD being sold with 12 songs owned by my family, on Amazon;s US and German pages. The artist/singer on the CD is also my father.
See here:
http://www.amazon.com/Guillermo-Venegas-Mi-Caba%C3%B1a-Quebradillas/dp/B000056MXA
We have never issued a license for such a CD even though the CD has been widely sold under various names at many web pages and we have never received any performer or song royalties for this recording.
Interestingly, Amazon, as all music CD dealers on the web gives no mailing address so that a cease and desist order can be sent.
Amazon, should check the stuff they sell or the integrity of their suppliers.
I couldn’t find a handy corporate email address on amazon.com, so as I post this, I’m using their form, which asks for a “Brief description of your company and [advertising] campaign”. That should get their attention. Right? I said:
This isn’t about a campaign —- it’s about an Amazon ad. Please go here [http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14333] for more and I’d appreciate it if you’d pass this on to the appropriate person for a response.
Cheers! And thanks …
Jon
Definitely stay tuned. But don’t hold your breath.
UPDATE 
I just had an email from Amazon:
“Thank you for your inquiry into advertising opportunities at Amazon.com. A customer service representative will be in contact with you shortly.”
Jon Newton – p2pnet
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December 13th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Everytime I see that guy Venegas complaining about some music that his father wrote…
Quite annoying!
Why wouldn’t he let it go, for God’s sake???
If the CD was released and he believes he was getting ripped off, may be there is a reason for that? May be he is not entitled to anything at all because some contracts have been signed?
Bringing this to attention of everyone everytime he gets is plain ridiculous..Who cares?????
If that guy’s family music is being LEGALLY sold on Amazon, what right does he have to libel the entire company?
Why would they pick some no-name artist majority of people don’t even know about to pirate his stuff?
I think p2pnet, as the most pro-pirate web-site, should get its priority straight….
December 13th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I’m not pro-pirate, I’m pro Fair Use. And as far as Venegas is concerned, I’m really pleased to be able to give him a place where he can tell his story.
The same applies to Jammie Thomas, Tanya Andersen, Patti Santangelo, and others.
Cheers!
December 13th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
“UPDATE I just had an email from Amazon:”
pwn3d!
December 13th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Jammie Thomas, Tanya Andersen, Patti Santangelo are people who don’t know how to use their computers….
Such people either should stay away from it or deal with all kinds of troubles they asked for….
So, thus said, their stories can be put in one simple sentence: I didn’t care or know how to protect my data, and now I am in mess.
Jon, I understand your intentions and where you are coming from. But you of all people should know that nowhere in Fair Use it says that people should download and/or distribute.
Millions do that but they don’t go out and proudly scream about it on every street corner.
Above named individuals are no better than everyone else. And the fact that they got busted does not mean they should be glorified only because they weren’t aware of what they were against.
And that guy…he really should put it to rest.
If he is not happy, he should file a lawsuit….
But wait…he did and he lost!!!
What else does he want? A pat on the shoulder and a handkerchief?
Please………
December 13th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
^ So ‘industry’. So transparent but like someone said in another post somewhere, it is good to see the shills out in force because it means ‘they’ are worried.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
at least jon got a reply. i’m still waiting to hear back from ultimatedvdshop.
*****
to the anonymous coward complaining about rafael (are you related to urbanlawyer?):
like the cartels, you clearly don’t understand what a pirate is.
a pirate is one who physically steals something and/or sells it for profit.
fair use, p2p and filesharing are not synonymous with piracy because nothing has been stolen and no profit has been gained either monetarily or by service. no contracts have been signed and the legal purchaser(s) of an item can do what they like with their property.
you ans the cartels would like the lamescream media and the public in general to believe otherwise. amazon, ultimatedvdshop, ebay and others collect revenue from (apparently) illegally copied dvds and cds and make no effort to hide this fact.
meanwhile, innocent law-abiding people (children, families, and corpses) are being routinely and systematically harrassed and blackmailed by the mpaa, riaa, ifpi and all their cohorts for sharing what they have legally purchased.
you’re a dick.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I am not a dick..I just don’t like the fact that people that people do stupid things and then cry about it.
And Rafael, as well as yourself, is trying to accuse Amazon in unfair business practices. For what????
FYI, law abiding citizens go to stores and pay money for what they need. According to the law, you can’t share even if you’ve purchased…So, sharing and law abiding don’t come together in the same sentence, you bird brain.
I am not having problems with people pirating/sharing/downloading/selling etc etc, you name it….I don’t care….If you do it, good for you, and I am happy that you are happy…But please don’t hide behind an innocent citizen mask…….
I am having problems with people telling the “stories” that are false in the way they are being presented.
Lies, incorrect facts, anti-corporate speculations that on many occasions have no basis and plain bullshit that p2pnet is feeding people with on a daily basis is what I am having problems with.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
ah, ok. you’re not a dick.
you’re a twat.
who pays you? riaa? mpaa? amazon? ebay? ultimatedvdshop?
troll twat.
i don’t make any money by filesharing. i don’t charge anyone, either.
i buy hundreds of blank dvds every month. i pay for my highspeed cable internet service.
i use p2p to sample goods i might like. i often buy official copies of films and tv series after downloading them with p2p. for exanple, i just purchased the complete series of ALIAS even though i had already downloaded and watched all of the episodes when they were first online.
obviously i can’t afford to buy everything, so p2p affords me the opprtunity to pick and choose at my leisure and and decide what purchases i’ll make.
the same with films and music. i decide what i’ll pay for – not the cartels. filesharing is not against the law in any country – and certainly not in my country – as long as it isn’t for profit.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Nobody pays you….I am not affiliated with any of these…I wish I were,though…That’s where the money is.
I am just someone who does not share most of the things people are fighting here about, that’s all.
May be p2p net should teach people how not to get caught instead of blaming the copyright holders fortheir customers’ stupidity, that’s all.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
the actual topic of my article is how companies like amazon promote (apparently) pirated dvds and earn revenue from the sale of these (apparently) pirated goods.
it has nothing to do with p2p.
December 13th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Leave them alone. You’ll drive up the prices of my books. Damn you!
December 13th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
” to the anonymous coward complaining about rafael (are you related to urbanlawyer?): ”
Same person.
Easy to spot.
As usual, lots of opinion and name calling .. no facts to back up any claims.
I wonder if he’ll pull numbers out of his butt again. Might be tough since his
heads in the way.
” ^ So ‘industry’. So transparent but like someone said in another post somewhere, it is good to see the shills out in force because it means ‘they’ are worried. ”
If the boycott wasn’t hurting them, they wouldn’t bother, absolutely right.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Please allow me to reply on two statements above:
“Everytime I see that guy Venegas complaining about some music that his father wrote…
Quite annoying!
Why wouldn’t he let it go, for God’s sake???
If the CD was released and he believes he was getting ripped off, may be there is a reason for that? May be he is not entitled to anything at all because some contracts have been signed?”
“And Rafael, as well as yourself, is trying to accuse Amazon in unfair business practices. For what????”
“Why would they pick some no-name artist majority of people don’t even know about to pirate his stuff?”
Of the 12 songs on the CD that Amazon all selling belong to us because we inherited them and are copyright registered under our names and because courts have decided so.
Additionally the contract that the widow of my father signed giving away all the songs my father wrote to a music publisher have been declared illegal by the courts.
Additionally on the lawsuits that we filed against music publishers Peermusic and Latin American Music Company (LAMCO), there publishers were found to have infringed our rights. Of course the court found, incredibly, that the appropiation of the music and licensing it for performance (making available) and illegally registering it at the US Copyright Office was not infringement. The Appeals court said we could file a lawsuit for that in local courts. We have recently filed that lawsuit against LAMCO and plan to sue shortly Peermusic too. Another lawsiot files against Peermusic in 2001 (the case is alredy 6 yers old) is pending resolution even though Peermusic’s guilt has already been accepted. The case is stuck because of a separate unrelated case was pending resolution.
As to acusing Amazon, this is the message I sent them as soon as I detected they were selling an unlicensed (pirated) CD and obtained a e-mail address from Whois:
Subject: Cease and Desist selling unlicensed music
From: Rafael Venegas
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:04:45 -0500
To: hostmaster@amazon.com
Please forward this message to Amazon.Com legal department.
We have detected that on your web pages Amazon.com and Amazon.De you are selling a CD of the following description:
Guillermo Venegas, Mi Cabaña, Quebradillas
List Price: $12.98
Product Details
* Audio CD (April 15, 1989)
* Number of Discs: 1
* ASIN: B000056MXA
See this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Guillermo-Venegas-Mi-Caba%C3%B1a-Quebradillas/dp/B000056MXA
The problem:
The songs on the CD belong to our company, Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Inc., a music publisher. In addition the performer on the CD is Guillermo Venegas (deceased, my father), which we represent for the purpose of collecting his performer royalties. We have never issued a license for this CD.
The solution:
Amazon.com shoulds stop selling the CD and should notify us of the fact unless the producer of the CDs copies Amazon.com and us whatever license they have for using the songs in the record and for using the voice of Guillermo Venegas.
2. Amazon.com is to give us the name, address, telephone, e-mail of the recod company that is selling the records to or dealing with Amazon.com.
You may consider this a cease and desist order.
Failure of Amazon.com to take the actions requested will likely result in a copyright infringement lawsuit against Amazon.com.
Your coperation will be welcome.
Sincerely
Rafael Venegas
Executive Director
Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Inc.
10 San Valentin
El Pilar, San Juan, Puerto Rico
00926
gvenegas.com
———————end of message
Obviously the writer of the cited posts do not understand my beef: The music industry is chasing and criminilizing kids for copying songs (something everyone did since the advent of cassettes) but the music industry is a large scale piracy operation that scam songwriters and artists, as was my father scammed by a music publisher and was never paid enough so he could say he made any money of his songwriting.
As to my father being an unknown person, the person that wrote this must think that celebrities have more talent or rights or are more important than unknown persons. Incredible. Anyway, the writter (if not a troll working for the cartels) should get off the ignorance ride by visiting our web page.