Legality issues?

[Thor]

I've been getting Sega CD covers printed at a local shop. They have not had any issues with me ever coming and printing stuff there but they are starting to seem like they are annoyed by it. I always bring files in as PSD file with 300dpi and centered, all they have to do is load the file and hit print. He made a joke about bootlegging and I just said no it's to replace the big cases that Sega used and to fix my broken cases.

I guess the question is can you get in trouble legally for printing these? I know it's kind of a gray area and the print shop has the right to say they will not print them but... how does this work?

I think I may just have to go into San Antonio to a kinko's or something and have a bunch printed at one time and then never go to that same print shop again.

[ShaggyB]

to answer your question... its not a legal grey area... for them. Its illegal. Its printing copyrighted material. So basically they can ask you to stop. Be thankful they havent. By law they should.

Is what you are doing illegal? Thats the grey area, you own the original and are reformatting it to fit in different cases.

Be polite, and if they say no... dont get mad... its technically a no no. Havent heard of anyone getting arrested for it yet... SO i wouldnt worry too much. Consider printing at home if you are worried.

[Thor]

I printed all my GBA ones at home but was not happy with the quality that's why I'm doing the Sega CD ones at a shop. I may have to just invest in a new printer.

[ShaggyB]

I printed all my GBA ones at home but was not happy with the quality that's why I'm doing the Sega CD ones at a shop. I may have to just invest in a new printer.

thats my recommendation. Get yourself a good printer and the best paper you can get...

Like you i only wish to print for games i actually own... my local copy stores wont help me though.. so i went out on my own.

[RockMax]

I've been asked by a manager at my local Kinko's if I was allowed to print these. I just said, I own the games and it's to replace the default ones, they didn't have any problem. But even so, I have an old high school friend who works there and he gives me a good deal for the high quality paper. I would even go in there with a dozen covers to print a few times. At this point I'm pretty much done, I may decide to reprint ones I've already reprinted since they didn't come out perfect. But I'm in a good place as of this moment.

[Gavica]

how much it cost to have it printed at a store?

[Thor]

It's about 0.50 an insert. Very cheap!

[MisterCreazil]

I get mine printed at a locally owned scrapbooking store, no one has ever said anything.  I'm honestly not worried about anyone getting arrested for doing this for their own legally owned games.  If someone did it large scale enough to get noticed by a copyright holder than they might catch someones attention.  But yeah I wouldn't worry about it at all honestly.

Anyone else notice how we get a thread like this every couple months or so?  Don't we have a sticky about it?

[Strong and Nerdy (formerly tmntfreak7)]

I get mine printed at a local Kinko's and what the lady I work with said is to just get all the covers onto a PDF file so that way it saves file size and time.  She also said that because it's for personal use it really shouldn't matter

[Gavica]

It's about 0.50 an insert. Very cheap!

so what do you tell them, on what type of paper, size, etc

[AppleQueso]

Anyone else notice how we get a thread like this every couple months or so?  Don't we have a sticky about it?

we get this, "what's the best printer to use", "where can I get UGC's in europe", "alternatives to UGCs", "hey VideoStoreShopper has cases individually!!!! (it doesn't)", and discussion over what content is and isn't allowed to be hosted all the time. I agree, there NEEDS to be a FAQ sticky.

[tiktektak]

Anyone else notice how we get a thread like this every couple months or so?  Don't we have a sticky about it?

we get this, "what's the best printer to use", "where can I get UGC's in europe", "alternatives to UGCs", "hey VideoStoreShopper has cases individually!!!! (it doesn't)", and discussion over what content is and isn't allowed to be hosted all the time. I agree, there NEEDS to be a FAQ sticky.

And still there will be the same questions all over again. I mean we HAVE a faq for printing, labels, cases, etc. and still people ask the same questions aover and over and over again!

[juan0tron]

Do we have anything that points new members to these FAQ's? Not a lot of people use the search function and end up requesting things on the site already as well.

[tiktektak]

I dunno but if in the forum there is a part with the name "Faqs, guides and templates" it is pretty obvious what is in there isn't it?

[MisterCreazil]

I think you need to think more of "lowest common denominator" Maybe a button on the website that says "New to The Cover Project" sort of thing, anyways I know this probably won't happen but just an idea.