You’ve seen him. He’s the man who sets up a table under the Thompson Center breezeway that’s a one-stop center for all your dorm room entertainment needs. Music and movies by the likes of 50 Cent, R. Kelly, Deliver Us From Eva – you name it, he’s got it, and it seems as if lately this man has students at Winston-Salem State University asking, “What’s the point in buying a movie ticket when I can get a DVD of a movie that has just been released, watch it whenever I want to, and only pay $10?” Bootlegging is illegal, and it has people, especially black artists, on all levels of the music industry extremely upset. According to federal statute, individuals will be criminalized for the unauthorized manufacturing, distribution or trafficking of sound recordings and music videos of “live” musical performances. Former President Bill Clinton signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, also known as GATT, in December 1994. That’s when the federal anti-bootleg statute was created. Until then, only state statutes could protect artists’ rights against copyright infringement. But the man who has received permission to sell bootleg materials on WSSU’s campus sees nothing wrong with what he’s doing.”Yeah, it’s a con,” said the man, who refused to give his name at the time of the interview. “I’m sure I am affecting the artists somehow, but they get cheated out of their money all the time by the deals they sign.”I take the risk to come out here and sell the product. It’s a risk ’cause anyway you look at it, it’s illegal.”Illegal, yes. A risk, yes, because the vendor could be arrested under federal and state laws if city police officers were to come on campus and find him selling bootleg products. In fact, the vendor is in violation of U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq, Title 18 U.S.C., Section 2319 and Section 2319A), Trafficking Counterfeit Labels (Title 18 U.S.C., Section 2318), and the Anti-Bootleg Statute (Section 2319A). But according to campus policeman Lt. Marcus Sutton, the vendor’s presence on campus hasn’t been viewed as harmful or wrong in the university’s or the city’s eyes.”As long as it’s cleared by Auxiliary Services, as far as I know, he’s fine,” said Sutton. “I haven’t seen city officers do anything about it. I never thought to research it because the city doesn’t do anything when they see these guys selling this in the city.”In response to the vendor’s comment on taking a risk to sell on campus, Sutton said, “If he made a statement like that, then maybe this is something we need to look into.”Norman Williams of the Office of Auxiliary Services believes the vendor’s statements on taking a risk deal with not having the city’s permission to sell.”I’m fairly certain that the issue isn’t about what he’s selling. He’s probably talking more about not having a city privileged license or permit.”The vendor offers his bootleg material for prices extremely below the market value. DVDs go for $10 and CDs sell for $5. Sometimes the vendor will make even better deals with students as they become more regular customers, as in the case of Tiffanie Adams.”Why would I pay $7 to see [a movie] one time when I got two items, a videotape and a CD for $10?” said Adams, a sophomore. She added that because she cannot bootleg the material herself, it is easier and cheaper to buy from the vendor rather than going to the store or the theater.”Come on – I’m in college,” said Adams. “And he knows that. That’s why he keeps coming here.”Or perhaps the reason the vendor continues to make his way to WSSU’s campus to sell his products is because the profits are so good. According to Williams, the vendor pays a significant amount of money to vend.”It costs him $75 a day [to vend], so evidently he’s doing well and giving the students what they want,” Williams said.Williams, who believed the man in question to be Michael Thigpen, explained that individuals who want to sell their products on campus must fill out an application and pay an application fee to receive a university vending license. Although the vendor is selling bootleg material, the university, according to Williams, doesn’t have a hand in determining whether his product is legitimate.”The only stipulation on the application is if they’re selling anything with the university name, they have to be licensed with the university,” said Williams.Williams also noted that the stipulation stretched out of the stated realms when credit-card representatives were banned from campus after they provided students with several credit cards, and the students were unable to pay their debts. The creditors began to call the university to inform it of the debt, so the credit-card representatives are no longer allowed to solicit customers on campus. However, as far as stipulations concerning the authenticity of products, there are none.”We really can’t control if someone lists they’re selling tapes, CDs, whatever, and determine whether or not it’s authentic.”As far as making the determination on what they sell, I don’t, and the university doesn’t, have the expertise to determine what’s authentic,” he said.”That money comes back to the school in form of scholarship,” said Williams of the vendors’ daily fees. “So as long as he’s paying, we’re not going to turn him away.”For the most part, as in Adams’ case, students seem to be satisfied with their merchandise. Others don’t agree with the entire concept.”We’re at a black school, and these are black artists, and we’re ripping them off,” said sophomore Martin Copeland. “The sad thing is he has something I want, but I just couldn’t. I mean, there’s two sides to this. He’s got a business and doin’ his thing, so at the same time I can’t judge him because I burn CDs all the time.”This is the vendor’s point exactly.”The only difference between what I do and what you do is I bring my stuff out in the open,” said the vendor of his business and students who make CDs.”Either way, the artist isn’t getting money. Then you have to look at it this way ‘Who makes the burners that are on these computers?’ “Williams said that as long as the students aren’t complaining about the quality of their products, the vendor will probably stick around.”If it became a problem with students not getting what they wanted, we’d look at it. We wouldn’t be able to discriminate against [issuing licenses to] individuals. There would have to be a blanket policy.”