Forum - View topicDoujinshi and copyright issue
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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Dorameon
Many fan think that companies usually turn a blind eye when it comes to doujinshi and they do unless it sells thousand of copies. Any opinion? |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Interesting. Doujin have always had an interesting place legally, since I at least was under the impression that Japanese copyright laws were not as strict as other countries (and the article seems to suggest that this is the case, though things are changing).
I don't think fanart and doujinshi will ever go away though, even though they certainly would be classified as illegal under most copyright laws (at least when they are being sold). |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Not at all. A bar owner (aged 73) ad lib Beatles songs at his establishment was prosecuted by JASRAC. An English report can be found here. Technically, even singing "Happy Birthday to You" without written consent from Warner (Summy-Birchard Music, the original license holder since 1935, was acquired by Warner in 1990) is illegal. |
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kolibri
 Posts: 712 Location: Vancouver |
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That's what I thought as well - they are as strict as in here, only most of the time the industry turns a blind eye on it. In addition, most doujinshi prints are extremely small just to kind of keep it on the gray area - we're talking about tens to few hundred (or thousand at most) copies per book.
But on the other hand I think it's what makes Japanese manga industry so dynamic. Quite a few big mangas have started out by drawing doujin and it gives them lot of practice. They start out by copying others but eventually start doing their own material, but by the time they are discovered they can already have several years of experience. Sometimes I think that the strong copyright laws over here smother creativeness... |
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naruto fan 09812
 Posts: 499 |
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Wow,you can get arrested for singing Beatles songs then my parents should get arrested because they do that all the time. To be fair I read the story and they ask him to stop multiple times so he kind of brought its on his self.
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jgreen
 Posts: 1325 Location: St. Louis, MO |
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Well, they'd have to catch you doing it first, but yeah. Generally the reason why most people don't notice this is that.... - In karaoke bars, usually the royalty fee to the artist was paid when through the sale of the karaoke CD. - For cover bands, usually a portion of their pay is withheld by the bar/concert venue and paid to ASCAP, the American version of JASRAC.
Very true, which is why they don't sing it in movies, and why every restaurant from Hooters to Applebees has their own "special birthday song"--so they don't have to pay for it. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I agree, that is interesting. There are probably a lot of reasons why Shougakukan would seek action against this title. Loss of income for their works published may be a factor, if there was any, but maybe the fact that it seems to end the story of Doraemon, and either they're not ready for that or that is not what the original author intended. Therefore they seek action.
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BoygetsfireD
 Posts: 475 Location: earth |
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As I'm slowly entering into the music business, I've been reading up on copyright laws (on everything--not just music).
So to clear up a few things... Singing "Happy Birthday" (or anything else for that matter--Beatles songs, etc.) without consent if it's a public performance, meaning it is done for more than just a gathering of family and friends. And Doujinshi are indeed illegal without permission, as they are "derivative works," which require consent of the copyright holder of the original |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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Yeah, I forgot adding "in public" in my previous post. Like jgreen said, restaurants are considered as public, so they avoid using the famous song. However, while it's fine to sing at private homes, schools are considered as public places, so technically kindergarten teachers can't sing it together with children, or [sarcasm]copyright police would raid the kindergarten and arrest everyone.[/sarcasm] |
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kyonichi
Posts: 16 |
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It depends on what kind of doujin it is. Sequel or alternate universe type doujins that try to build on the story of a particular licensed work are "derivative works," and as such would be illegal. However, if it is a parody, it falls under "fair-use" guidelines. These guidelines are what allowed "Epic movie" to have obvious rip-offs of Harry Potter, Narnia, Scooby Doo, and many other movies. Thats the way it works in the US, at least. I don't know how Japanese law views fair use or similar issues.
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pat_payne
Posts: 179 |
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Sumimasen, a little hair-splitting: Actually, you can sing the tune to "Good Morning to All/Happy Birthday to You" all you want, and nobody can say "boo" to you. The tune was written by a couple of schoolteachers in 1893 and so is safely public domain. The lyrics for "Happy Birthday to You" are what do it. They were written somewhere in thelate '20s- early '30s by a person who believed (perhaps rightly, as it turned out-depending on if the Hills requested the one-time renewal) that the song was PD -- the teachers and their publisher objected, and (AFAICMO), to avoid a legal battle, "Happy Birthday's" author surrendered the right to the little ditty to the "Good Morning" people, who immediately re-copyrighted the composition. As this was 1935 (the cutoff date currently in US law is somewhere around 1925), the song's lyrics won't become PD (barring another copyright extension) for a good long while -- at least a decade or more. As an aside, when Warner/Chappell bought the rights to the song, they valued it at $5,000,000. |
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