Crackdown on bootleg videos at Motor City

The big story trickling out of this weekend's Motor City Comic Con isn't the reunion of members of the Batman TV cast, but an apparent MPAA crackdown on pirated DVDs and videos, with police seizing bootleg merchandise and possibly arresting dealers.

Blogger Johanna Draper Carlson yesterday had first news of the raid, passing along word from her husband, former DC Comics editor K.C. Carlson, that, "the MPAA is here with about 50 cops, and 25 booths have been shut down. If people get belligerent, they’re taken out in handcuffs. If they don’t, they’re still taken to the police station, photographed, and fingerprinted."

In the blog's comments section, convention attendee Alan Coil said he saw six booths under guard, "but I also did not walk around the room until most of the police work was done with, so I’m actually not arguing about the number, just saying what I saw."

Coil said it appeared as if some dealers were allowed to continue operating their booths after the pirated videos were confiscated.

On his Live Journal, Motor City exhibitor Sean Frost said he heard reports that up to 16 booths had been closed, and that some dealers were handcuffed. "People spoke of a large group of sad fat men in handcuffs and a bus waiting to take them away," he wrote.

Mark Evanier also received reports of the crackdown: "There have been busts like this at other cons but if the accounts e-mailed to me are accurate, this one was scary in its scope and seriousness — enough to perhaps finally end the selling of pirated videos at conventions."