GOOSEBUMPS, ST. JUDE "CHARITY," Scholastic and R.L. Stine Apathy

Remember school and Scholastic books? I don't recall, at a book sale, teachers saying, "Children, if you sneak a few books without paying, it's ok."

I don't recall authors coming to class and saying, "Jeez, I make SO much money, if you walk out without paying, it's ok with me."

Here's an eBay seller (and eBay is, along with Amazon, one of the biggest sales sites on the Internet, very high profile) who is stealing a Scholastic book. But more than that. This seller is claiming to own copyright. AND, this seller from Hoboken is a "Robin Hood" who robs from R.L. Stine and Scholastic and...gives 10% to St. Jude's Hospital.

Where's the 90% go? Oh, of course, to the person who claims to have written the "Goosebumps" series and controls copyright and re-sale rights. Some jerk in Hoboken.

Does Scholastic know? Does R.L. Stine know? Yes and yes.

Would they care to stop this? No, and no.

Would they authorize ME to tell EBAY that this seller actually does NOT own copyright and that the auction should be ended? No, and No.

I don't charge to do what amounts to less than a minute's work. The answer is still NO. Go figure why not. Apathy? Stupidity? No idea what a dangerous thing it is for people to get low-price pirated editions and not support the publishing industry?

How do you like that lovely CHARITY banner?

Ebay encourages sellers to donate some of their profits to a favorite charity. Conveniently, neither eBay or the charity know or care whether the item is a bootleg or not.

Ebay bidders think that this jerk in Hoboken is the real deal. And charitable, too. Gosh, a whole 10% to St. Jude. Marlo Thomas should drive to Hoboken and pin a medal on this clown.

Bootlegging is quite a profitable hobby when it comes to stealing from R.L. Stine and some others who have plenty of time for Twitter and Facebook. There are authors who will tell you what they had for breakfast, and what TV show they're watching at the moment. They don't have a minute to stop someone on eBay who is saying "I own copyright" to their work.

All this seller does is e-mail pdf files. Or give out a password to a cloud download. "I do a few of those, and I can have myself a fine, fine dinner at my favorite restaurant, me and my partner, courtesy of R.L. Stine and Scholastic. Yum Yum!"

It beats clipping coupons.

I certainly don't want to offend Scholastic or Stine by calling them apathetic, short-sighted or ridiculous.

I also don't want to offend any Muslim terrorists out there by using a Yiddish word, but here goes: CHUTZPAH.

It takes a lot of CHUTZPAH for a seller to boldly state, under possible penalty of perjury, an outright LIE.

No, you do NOT own Stine's copyright. You don't own Scholastic's copyright. You are, in essence, raping whores. You are victimizing people who don't have the self-respect to complain.

Read the caveat that EBAY will not question:

Ebay is using a worn-out legal loophole called the DMCA, to aid and abet piracy and to profit from it. Using the loophole, eBay can say, "We're JUST a venue. We have no idea if the seller is telling the truth about owning copyright, and WE WON'T ASK FOR PROOF. All we'll do is act on an e-mail or fax complaint from the copyright or intellectual property rights holder. It's their responsibility to contact us. If they don't, well, less money for them, more for us."

Scholastic and Stine could stop this nonsense. At least become two more people on a bootleggers' "don't mess with" list. So far, they aren't interested.

I guess if they saw schoolkids stealing at a school book sale, they wouldn't want to get involved either. They'd say "kids will be kids."

But the eBay seller in Hoboken is no kid.