News

Japanese request Fansub Removal

Following an e-mail request they received from Japan, Saikou-Fansubs has halted distribution of Munto. This is not the first time a fasubbing group has received a similar request from a Japanese company, however the act is rather uncommon as the Japanese companies generally prefer to have a North American associate make the requests on their behalf, even if that associate has not yet officially licensed the title.

In December of 2002 Production I.G publicly requested that anime fans not download fansubs of GitS: Stand Alone Complex, but they are not believed to have directly contacted any fansub groups. At the time Stand Along Complex had already been licensed by Bandai Entertainment (As a Bandai Entertainment co-production it was licensed prior to its Japanese TV release).

In January 1999 SPE Visual Works (Sony) of Japan contacted [2] North American fansubbers and requested, under clear threat of legal action, that the distribution of Rurouni Kenshin be halted.

The e-mail Saiko Fansubs received is as follows:

SUBJECT: The owner of MUNTO.

BODY:
To the webmaster of Saikou-fansubs.com.

We are the owner of intellectual property rights of “MUNTO”.
We in good faith believe that the movie file you are showing on your website is not authorized by us, our agent, or the law, and therefore infringe our rights.
So please act expeditiously to remove the following file: Munto OAV .


President Hideaki Hatta
Kyoto Animation Co.,Ltd.

Thank you to Thappy for this item.