Attention Canon Fraud Dept.

Can You believe this? Have look at what I found on ebay,
http://cgi.ebay.com …ame=STRK%3AMEWA​%3AIT&rd=1
-Bruce

Without any hint from your post, I was assuming you are implying that the camera in the auction is fake. True, I couldn't find a TC-8000 in Canon's online museum, but there's another auction on eBay for another TC-8000, with a pic too, showing that auction #1 is not photoshopped:

link to auction

So then, could you please explain your post further?

NickC wrote:
Without any hint from your post, I was assuming you are implying that the camera in the auction is fake. True, I couldn't find a TC-8000 in Canon's online museum, but there's another auction on eBay for another TC-8000, with a pic too, showing that auction #1 is not photoshopped:

link to auction

So then, could you please explain your post further?

Nick, You're kidding, RIGHT?
Simply put, These are NOT Canon brand cameras. Instead, these are cheap knock offs meant to fool the unsuspecting public. If you look closely at the picture, you'll see an opening at the front of the faux prism housing. The view finder is simply a crude sight glass, and this is only the first thing I noticed. The flash bracket doesn't even seem to align its self properly with the body.
These are worse than those cheap watch knock offs being sold on street corners. I've seen these same cameras with various different manufacturers names stuck on them, and rest assured, Canon doesn't want their name on these either.
Why on Earth would one of the worlds premier camera builders put something like this out anyway?
-Bruce

I like the idea of a 'focus-free 50 mm f/6.3 lens'

The one that's stil at 99 cents might actually be a worth the money ...

Best regards,
Andy

No, I am not.

In your original post perhaps you assumed that everyone here knows that the TC-8000 is fake, or a knockoff, or something. That's preposterous, of course, since we're not all Canon experts and historians. So I just had to guess what the heck you meant by alerting the Canon "fraud department" to an eBay auction of what looked like a real Canon camera. Thank you for the followup details.

LOL! In that auction the Guy states; Dont no much about it, It was my wifes uncles. Then if you look at His other auction for a Kodak "Professional" DCS 315 digital camera, He has descriptions and diagrams to tell you all about it. Hmm, is something amiss here?
-Bruce

It looks like the cheap POS cameras I see people selling at the flea market. I love going up to them, looking at them, laughing, and saying what crap they are Although none I have seen had the guts to have Canon written on them. Usually something more along the lines of Sunarisareia or some Japanese sounding fake word.
Julie

Googling around digs up that the real brand is likely to be Mitsuba - whoever they are. Most of the links on Google are dead. The Canon label in one of the pictures on eBay looks stuck on.

David

I work for a large guitar company, and we see knock-offs both on eBay and in local pawn shops all the time. We actually buy some of the "better" ones to keep them off the market.

I would be willing to bet, though, that the seller in unfamiliar with what he has. HIs feedback rating is quite high...

Steve

I agree. She (Yvette sounds more like a "she" than a "he" ) obviously doesn't know much about cameras. Look at her other auctions. She keeps confusing aperture with focal length. F=50mm. F=400mm. Etc.

I wonder if anyone has sent her email to tell her that isn't a Canon camera...

Does TC stand for Total Crap?

Nothing wrong with a knock off as long as the customer knows what they are getting. I once owned a Gibson Hummingbird knock off from a company called Pan. That guitar was amazing. After playing this guitar for about 3 years It developed the exact same sweet mellow sound of the original. Unfortunately it pretty much self destructed after about 10 years. First the top started to warp which caused the birdge to lift. I had it repaired a few times. About the 10 year mark pretty much the whole box just fell apart. But hey I only paid $150 for it.

You don't have a problem with trademark infringement?

Steve

A definition fo a knock off to me is not trademark infringment. I didn't get a Gibson Hummingbird. I got a PAN that very much lookied lik one and luckily sounded similar. Having played an original it was far from original.
I would think the case of a company called Tokai, that made exact to specifications Fender Telecasters and Stratocasters, then were subsequently sued for it, would fall under the category of trademark infringment. Almost everything from clothes to electronics have thier knock off counterparts. Some people like them, some would rather have the original. I see nothing wrong with it. As long as your not being conned in to thinking your getting the original. As far as I'm concerned alot of these big companies create thier own problems. Companies like Martin or Gibson who have spent the last century creating a goodname and then for the sake of saving money start to produce inferior products and live off the name. Most of the time they create knockoffs of thier own product as they know there is money to be made in that market.
If another company makes a better knockoff for a better price your darn right I'm there. I'm just a consumer trying to get my value in all of this.
Alot of good companies got thier start making knockoffs that were ultimately good products.

Tokai still builds Gibson and Fender knock-offs. They're unable to market them in the US, though. I was at a trade show in Toronto last month, and Toaki was there in full force. The basis of the lawsuits against Tokai, though, didn't have to do with the name on the guitar, but rather with the design and the logo similarity.

As to whether or not they make their own knock-offs, the difference is that they own the patents and the trademarks; they can do anything they want with them.

There used to be a guy here in San Diego who was famous (infamous, really) for making drop-dead replicas of Gibson guitars. The downside was that, given the chance, he would sell them as original Gibson products.

In the case of the "Canon" camera here, it has the name on it. An uneducated buyer would, in fact, think he's getting a Canon...

Steve