Square Enix hits Final Fantasy replica dealers for $600,000 in damages.

[Rostum]

A fistful of Final Fantasy counterfeiters recently found their hit points squelched by a summon of the judicial kind. Square Enix announced that it reached a settlement in its federal lawsuit against "at least" four online retailers of unlicensed Final Fantasy knock-offs, primarily sword replicas, netting the role-playing giant a hefty 600,000 gil dollar judgment.

Traffickers, which included Edgework Imports, Top Swords, Wholesale Gallery and Pacific Solutions Marketing, are barred from dealing in Final Fantasy fakery, either through their own stores or other online sites such as eBay or Amazon.

Obviously shaken, the defendants issued a joint statement that they "regret" selling copies to customers, and "would not have begun importing and selling these swords if we knew that Square Enix would respond so aggressively to stop us. We will never make this mistake again." Translation: We knew what we were doing was wrong, we just didn't, you know, think Square Enix would do anything about it.

Square Enix hits Final Fantasy replica dealers for $600,000 in damage - Joystiq

[Aria28]

About time too! When you can see all the fakes, mostly of arms and smaller FF figurines, like the Trading Arts Mini series, that are on Ebay....the trouble is, they even sell them to resellers who have no idea they've bought fakes and genuinelly sell them to their customers, thinking they are the real thing

I now buy them exclusively from a handful of sellers I am familiar with in Japan. Hopefully this legal case will serve as a deterrant, although I don't hold my breath

[Del Murder]

[Christmas]

We need Tidus79's authentication when it comes to collectibles.