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NEWS: Nine Poles Held by Police over "Fansubs"


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NessFreaK



Joined: 07 May 2006
Posts: 75
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 11:50 am Reply with quote
This is what the world needed. Hopefully they will be sentenced and this will become an example for the other criminals. I do hope this makes its way into anime and the anit-otaku subbers are locked up.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6227
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:00 pm Reply with quote
ok... did i just read this wrong? or are they really sending to people to prison for fansubbing.Shocked

yeahbuhwhat?
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Tempest
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Joined: 29 Dec 2001
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:20 pm Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
ok... did i just read this wrong? or are they really sending to people to prison for fansubbing.


They're obviously looking into it. No one's been arrested, yet, or charged with a crime, yet...

But the potential is there for someone to spend 2-years in prison.

In the anime community we celebrate/applaud/thank/accept/tolerate fansubbers for a number of reasons (they helped build anime fandom, they promote new titles, they provide access to titles that won't be avilable for who knows how long...) but do these reasons really apply to the Polish fansubbers ?

I don't know very much about what Hollywood movies they were fansubbing, but if they were were translating popular, big-budget movies, there really was no point. People don't need fansubs of Spiderman 3 or Lord of the Rings...

While people who pirate copyrighted material for no personal gain, for the sole benefit of their "patrons", aren't as bad as professional pirates and bootleggers, they can't be put on quite the same level as traditional anime fansubbers.

The only reason to want a "fansub" of a major Hollywood blockbuster is greed. Either you're too greedy to wait 3 months for a legit release, or you're too greedy to pay for it when it comes out in 3 months or so...

My thoughts are about the same when it comes to anime. I applaud the groups that focus on less likely to be released titles, and I see the groups who fansub Naruto and other licensed or uber popular titles as no better than software pirates.

-t
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dormcat
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Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 9902
Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:56 pm Reply with quote
tempest wrote:
The only reason to want a "fansub" of a major Hollywood blockbuster is greed. Either you're too greedy to wait 3 months for a legit release, or you're too greedy to pay for it when it comes out in 3 months or so...

In some cases "three months" can be three years or more. For example, Taiwan Television (TTV) had the license of Star Trek: The Next Generation and broadcasted it until the third season finale cliffhanger and the milestone that made TNG better-known than TOS: The Best of Both Worlds, Part I.

Then TTV took it off screen, without even bothered to air the Part II. Mad

Fans were outraged, but the company didn't move a bit, and it was the time way before broadband Internet was widely available. A few years later, TTV aired two episodes of Deep Space Nine, and just when fans celebrating the return of ST on TV, they took it off AGAIN. By the time Star World (channel) started airing Voyager, most fans had either watched TNG and DS9 through other legal (imports) or illegal (fansubs and bootlegs) means, or had lost interest in the meantime.
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os-osiris



Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 15
Location: usa ...
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:58 pm Reply with quote
I just want to point out that something is only piracy if someone is making money off of other people's works. If that is the case in this situation, then the police have every right to arrest these people. If it isn't, and these people were doing it for free (I'm not sure either way since I'm not familiar with the situation), then this is just another case of corporate greed trying to change the rules in their favor so that sharing of any form is altogether made illegal.

*posted out of anger so feel free to correct/berate*
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Avatar



Joined: 23 Apr 2002
Posts: 14
Location: Alberta, Canada
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 1:31 pm Reply with quote
Providing unauthorized translations for works (print, film, or otherwise) is still copyright infringement. Even if that material is not licensed for translation in the originating country. For a good read regarding this topic read my discussion on Anime Nation's Ask John.
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kokuryu



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Interesting... So writing has become a crime...
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:04 pm Reply with quote
os-osiris wrote:
I just want to point out that something is only piracy if someone is making money off of other people's works.


Uhh, that's not true in the least.

Software pirates have been knowingly, willingly and proudly referring to themselves and the "warez" scene as "pirates" for years now. Many (most?) of these people do not make any money off their activity...

Dictionarry.com wrote:

2. the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc.: The record industry is beset with piracy.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=piracy

Merriam-Webster wrote:

3 a : the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=piracy

-t


Last edited by Tempest on Fri May 18, 2007 2:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:07 pm Reply with quote
kokuryu wrote:
Interesting... So writing has become a crime...


Sometimes writing is a crime. Generally when it involves things like libel or hate speech. This is nothing new.

In this case, writing was not the crime, unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material was the crime. Provided they are charged and found guilty that is. At this time no one have been charged with or convicted of any crime in this matter.

-t
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The Big Bang



Joined: 17 May 2007
Posts: 48
Location: Chicago,IL[english second lang]
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:22 pm Reply with quote
Umm,would this be in the category of bootlegging than with fansubs. I ain defending fansubs but this seems more of a bootlegging crime. So,the term fansub should not be warrant in this case even though the titles were subbed. I got a question if you get a DVD movie from a bootlegger but it is Japanese and its is subbed in English. Can its actually be consider a fansub?
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Kiyoko



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 131
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:23 pm Reply with quote
kokuryu wrote:
Interesting... So writing has become a crime...


Selling/distributing written copyrighted material is still a crime. Trying to sell a written movie script is pretty much the same thing as trying to sell a bootleg Harry Potter book.

However... as much as I'm for people protecting copyrights and such, I think recently some copyrights have been taken too far. I read some time back that Kentucky Fried Chicken is suing some other company for copyright infringement for use of the phrase "Family Feast", which I think is just absurd. Someone has even copyrighted an apple for crying out loud. Confused
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:37 pm Reply with quote
The Big Bang wrote:
Umm,would this be in the category of bootlegging than with fansubs. I ain defending fansubs but this seems more of a bootlegging crime. So,the term fansub should not be warrant in this case even though the titles were subbed. I got a question if you get a DVD movie from a bootlegger but it is Japanese and its is subbed in English. Can its actually be consider a fansub?


Depends on who did the subtitles. If the bootleg was made from fansubs, then it's effectively a bootlegged copy of a fansub. This is a fairly common occurrence. Most of the time the fansubbers don't approve of it, although a few fansub groups have been suspected of selling their scripts to bootleggers for profit, but there was never any proof as far as I know...

-t
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The Big Bang



Joined: 17 May 2007
Posts: 48
Location: Chicago,IL[english second lang]
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:38 pm Reply with quote
You are totally right on that particular issue. Someone needs to stops the riduculous patents of things. Also,its pointless to make a patent on a certain phase. Example of that when Heat's head coach Pat Riley made a patent for the term three peat. And the Bulls have to pay money to use the term in the early 90'' when they were winning there NBA Titles.
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Kiyoko wrote:
However... as much as I'm for people protecting copyrights and such, I think recently some copyrights have been taken too far. I read some time back that Kentucky Fried Chicken is suing some other company for copyright infringement for use of the phrase "Family Feast", which I think is just absurd. Someone has even copyrighted an apple for crying out loud. Confused


That's a trademark.

But I agree that various IP laws have been taken much too far. Mostly patents and the DMCA.

There are many good aspects of the DMCA, but there are many questionable aspects too. There are also many, many cases of people abusing the DMCA in ways that aren't actually legal (filing DMCA take-down requests for material they don't actually own for example).

I rarely see regular copyright law actually taken too far though.

For example, the Polish website received a warning about a year ago that if they didn't stop, they would face legal action. They contemplated the warning and decided to ignore it...

This would be similar to a fansubber receiving a request from a Japanese company to not fansub their products, and then ignoring that request (something that happens occasionally). If that Japanese company decides to take legal action and/or involve the police, could you blame them?

On the other hand, if an American company acquired rights to a show, and then took legal action against fansubbers who had distributed (according to generally held fansub ethics) the series prior to it being licensed, then I'd feel that the company was going to far. Their actions would be legal, but not particularly fair...

(Yes, if Company X acquired North American rights to Show Y today, they could legally sue every one who illegally distributed show Y during the past Z years....)

-t
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testorschoice



Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Posts: 468
PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:47 pm Reply with quote
The Big Bang wrote:
You are totally right on that particular issue. Someone needs to stops the riduculous patents of things. Also,its pointless to make a patent on a certain phase. Example of that when Heat's head coach Pat Riley made a patent for the term three peat. And the Bulls have to pay money to use the term in the early 90'' when they were winning there NBA Titles.


People don't patent phrases. Or words. Words can be trademarks, which is different from patents and copyrights. Trademarks are what stops a hypothetical businessman from creating a new league called the "National B-Ball Association" in Joliet, Illinois and calling his team the "Chicago Bulls and Bears."

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/whatis.htm

The Chicago Bulls only had to pay for Riley's trademark when they sold merchandise like t-shirts with the trademark on it. They didn't have to pay if a player said it out loud during a celebration or a news interview.
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