Techdirt. Stories filed under "fansubs" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "fansubs"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:32:00 PDT Japanese Game Maker Engages In Wiki Edit War With Fansubbers, Then Opts For The DMCA Option Dennis Yang http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100426/0002159165.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100426/0002159165.shtml attack "fansub" efforts for trying to translate movies into other languages. But, in the video game industry, we did see glimmers of hope when a publisher allowed fansubbers to complete their version of the translation and compete side-by-side with the commercial translated version in the marketplace. So, it's sad to see Japanese game maker Minori slap TLWiki, a translation site, with a DMCA takedown for their work on a one of their games. Apparently, this was after an edit war on the wiki itself, where the game maker supposedly deleted the entire contents of a page, replacing it with:
minori holds copyright over all the files made available on this webpage. We, minori, have removed the contents of this page because the owner of this page has not received our permission for distribution of these materials. Please understand [the above statements]. Still, if there are objections, etc., please contact Minori, Inc. in Japanese at info@minori.ph.
Of course, since wikis have an easy rollback feature to prevent errant deletions like this, this change was easily reverted, and after a few more rounds of edits & reverts, the site was slapped with an official DMCA takedown notice. Once again, quashing fansub efforts is a fantastic way to annoy and disenfranchise your most loyal fans, who donate hours of their free labor as a hobby. We've seen ways to engage these communities advantageously (like hiring them to do the official translation), so surely Minori should take note.

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]]> making-new-enemies http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100426/0002159165 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:24:00 PDT Movie Industry Overreaction: Attacking Fan Subbers Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090914/0332426180.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090914/0332426180.shtml shut down fansub efforts. It makes no sense. These projects tend to increase attention for a particular movie by making it accessible to those who couldn't enjoy the movie before. And yet, once again, we see stories of movie studios going after sites that are doing free labor for the studios in helping them translate the movies into other languages. In this case, they're demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars from three people who helped translate a bunch of films, and run a site for more such fansubs. What a world we live in when those who do free labor for you are worthy of being sued for huge cash amounts.

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]]> how-does-this-make-sense? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090914/0332426180 Thu, 5 Mar 2009 15:15:00 PST Why Does The Movie Industry Shut Down Fansub Sites? Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090303/0217583962.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090303/0217583962.shtml great way to learn what other markets want. Yet, it seems like other parts of the movie industry are having a lot of trouble understanding this, as recent efforts around the globe have forced the closure of a number of fansub sites -- even ones that don't provide the actual movies to download at all, just the subtitles. Yet movie studios an the courts are ruling that just creating translated subtitles is infringing. In one case, it appears that a site was shut down just for linking to such an "unauthorized subtitles." These are fans trying to help build up a bigger audience for a movie, where the movie studios have failed to provide the product. They're helping the movie gain a bigger following. The studios should be thanking these people for providing free labor. And, instead, they're dragging them into court, shutting down their sites and demanding compensation. The world is a mixed up place sometimes.

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]]> it-makes-no-sense http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090303/0217583962 Thu, 4 Dec 2008 02:14:11 PST Anime Distributors Learn That Fansubbers Are Telling Them What The Market Wants Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081130/2124212974.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081130/2124212974.shtml embraced the fansubbers and used them to learn where there were strong potential market openings for foreign distribution. It was like free market research. On top of that, many realized that the fansubs helped increase demand for the authorized product. Unfortunately, not all anime distributors have seen things the same way, but many have.

Matt writes in to tell us about the case of the Dattebayo fansub group, which has been doing rapid, high quality releases of certain popular anime titles. The company behind the anime has never bothered them. Rather than try to shut them down, the US licensee of the series has decided to put up its own free subtitled versions, knowing that if it tries to put significant restrictions on them, it will never work. The group is actually charging people for a week, right after the shows air in Japan (rather than the typical long wait), but then will offer it free. In response, the fansub group is going to stop creating their own versions, noting they only did so in order to watch the videos in a reasonable time frame. Once again, despite what some in the entertainment industry claim, we're seeing that you absolutely can compete with so-called "pirates."

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]]> good-for-them http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20081130/2124212974