Pirates 'R Us - Otaku's Den

If you're actively attending Anime and Cosplay conventions, chances are you've seen a booth called Otaku's Den. It's a specialty store that sells figures, pins, cosplay accessories and other related stuff. Otaku's Den is owned by costripper Czarina Geronimo.

Why feature Otaku's Den on Pirates 'R Us you ask? When I joined GameOPS more than 10 years ago, one of the site's slogan was, "Iba ang Tunay, Do Not Buy Pirated CDs and Cartridges." Otaku's Den has been blatantly selling bootleg (pirated) figures and they're proudly announcing it on their website over at Multiply:

Otaku's Den product catalog caters to BOOTLEGS, original figures and pre-order figures. Please don't hesitate to forward us any questions and concerns regarding our products so we can assure you the best assistance we could offer.

Aside from selling bootleg figures, the pins and mugs they're selling also violate copyright and the intellectual property of the original owners of those artworks. You just can't print anything off the internet and sell it right?

FYI, violation of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines has the following criminal penalties:

• Imprisonment of one (1) year to three (3) years plus a fine ranging from Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) to One hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000) for the first offense
• Imprisonment of three (3) years and one (1) day to six (6) years plus a fine ranging from One hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000) to Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) for the second offense.
• Imprisonment of six (6) years and one (1) day to nine (9) years plus a fine ranging from Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) to One million five hundred thousand pesos (P1,500,000) for the third and subsequent offenses.

I also heard that the owner of Otaku's Den has some bad blood with those buying only legit figures.

(Credits to Joystiq for the GameOPS Pirates 'R Us logo)