[JustinD]

Originally Posted by steve B

For sake of argument, lets say someone makes 15 reprints of popular Topps cards and sell them as reprints. Have I violated copyright? Yes. If I sold them for a total of even $300, how much have they damaged Topps, who don't sell their older cards, and claims right on the current packaging that they don't guarantee the cards will have any future value? Maybe the 300? Maybe more, maybe some unknown amount because it hurts their reputation. If the person doing that doesn't have much money, Topps is stuck with the cost of suing them, and having to do other stuff to eventually get the money. Probably way more than 300..

A case can be made that the damages are exponentially higher than the sales figures for the counterfeits due to reputation damage. The basic premise the card companies want to be an underlying point is that the cards are an investment. Selling 20k wax boxes new from the factory requires them to maintain that it is a limited run and a status item.

Manufacturers such as Coach understand that losing the cache of their brand by having swap meet examples sold on the net undermines the buyer confidence and may have the items seized causing the counterfeiter frustration but also will pursue the selling platform (i.e.: eBay) for knowingly aiding sale of a forgery. That is where they find success and your lawyer money is well spent. Even if you lose, you win as eBay will avoid it in the future as it's just not worth more lawsuits.

This is being overlooked now simply because these counterfeits are detectable but we are likely only a few years away from that not being the case. With the dollars that are out there for high grade vintage it is not even a minor stretch of the imagination to see a well financed crime organization creating undetectable cards and cases and flooding the market with them. The moment that delicate trust from consumers is shattered we will be sitting on worthless collections. Don't doubt that someone is not already working hard on this when there is millions to be made.