Are fansubs legal?

[odin0425]

This is a good question, one that I see fairly often. Cyrus and I were talking about this very subject the other night. I did a little research and found out that Japanese copyright laws are fairly similar to America?s. Fansubs are indeed illegal to distribute, however there is a silver lining, most of production companies in Japan realize that most of what is being fansubed is not available in most countries, they also realize that imports make up a sizable chunk of their profit margin, so they are not likely to prosecute anyone until import profits decrease.

Now you might be asking, well why do Japanese laws apply to me? There is an international copyright treaty which many countries have singed, if you live in one of those countries, you can be prosecuted for breaking overseas copyright law by the country in question. However if you are in a countries that isn?t part of the treaty you can do what ever you want.

Now, what happens when the Anime has been picked up by a production company in your country? Simply put, you are their bitch. They would have legal rights over the fansub even though it was downloaded before they picked up the series, even though it was originally recorded in Japan.

In short, if you download funsubs that are not available to purchase in your country, you are more then likely cool, but as soon as your country picks up the series, get rid of it and move onto the next.

--if my info is incorrect, or not quite complete, please expand

[gubi-gubi]

In short, if you download funsubs that are not available to purchase in your country, you are more then likely cool, but as soon as your country picks up the series, get rid of it and move onto the next.

Either way it's ilegal but the simple answer is whether the company can be bothered to come and arrest you and waste all that money on court fees... In short download whatever, they aren't likely to get you but either way it's illegal, having more chance of getting away with it doesn't make it less illegal..

[katherine_jean]

Im pretty sure they're nice and illegal.

I love 'em all the same though.

[Cidien]

That's all kinda common sense stuff isn't it?

[r00ster]

I warsh myself with a towel on a stick.

[vegeta76]

I warsh myself with a towel on a stick.

um....... sure...... why not......

[babyeater0]

I AM THE RULER OF TEXT




BOW BEFORE MY POSTS FOOOLLSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tsunami]

I remember back in 95 before DVDs and HKs, fansubs were the fastest way to get anime instead of paying out of your ass for anime. I remember trading for old fansubs of commercial stuff. Well that was way back in the day when info on series being licensed was slow to pass on. But today fansubs are just as bad as back then as many people DL fansubs and never buy anime period as they have already watched it several times by fansub.

Fansubs rely on the fact it is un-licensed in your country thus you can DL it for free. Today's fansubbers are saying to buy the anime when it gets licensed in your country as you watched it and you own the creators to buy it.

[Spike_8]

Fansubs are dead!!! Plain & simple!!!!!! If you were lucky to get some anime that never ended up geting licenced and was done by a good distro I bet your feeling pretty damb good! There are next to NONE distro's left ! There are a couple anime shows that ive wanted to check out that never were licenced and have looked around for fansubs but its like looking for water in a desert!!!

But to answer the question if they are illegal? Only if they are licenced !! If they arn't I was always told your in the clear !! Man serchin for fansubs brings back alot of shitty memories (outragious quality , getin ripped off etc) But once I found a certain dealer he always go me qualtiy stuff!!!

But does anyone remember that guy who ran that DBZ tapes site or 24 star dragonball??
Ive herd that the guy who ran DBZ tapes got slapped up in the slammer and some MAJOR FINES BIG MONEY!!!!! that goes to show sheisty distro's (THUS SHITTY PEOPLE) get their due!!!!

[geo85]

Not meaning to sound like a jackass, oh what the hell I will anyway, what are fansubs?

[Zagatto]

Fansubs are shows that have been translated and subtitled by fans rather than by some company. They usually share them at no charge and haven't paid any licensing fees to the original creator.

I remember sending a money order away in the hopes of getting some cool new show from Japan. Getting that big box of VHS tapes was always a big rush. I still have my Fushigi Yuugi fansubs because I like the translation from that better than the R1s I have.

[Cidien]

Fansubs are dead!!! Plain & simple!!!!!! If you were lucky to get some anime that never ended up geting licenced and was done by a good distro I bet your feeling pretty damb good! There are next to NONE distro's left ! There are a couple anime shows that ive wanted to check out that never were licenced and have looked around for fansubs but its like looking for water in a desert!!!

But to answer the question if they are illegal? Only if they are licenced !! If they arn't I was always told your in the clear !! Man serchin for fansubs brings back alot of shitty memories (outragious quality , getin ripped off etc) But once I found a certain dealer he always go me qualtiy stuff!!!

But does anyone remember that guy who ran that DBZ tapes site or 24 star dragonball??
Ive herd that the guy who ran DBZ tapes got slapped up in the slammer and some MAJOR FINES BIG MONEY!!!!! that goes to show sheisty distro's (THUS SHITTY PEOPLE) get their due!!!!

Everything you wrote is really stupid. Nice going. And you only need to use 1 !. Stop being a dumbass using !!!!!!!!!!. Nobody likes when you do that except you.

[Cyrus]

my oppinion on this is for where i live i have no way to get a hold of anime before it hits america as in been translated and for the stuff that never gets translated i have no way to see the first couple episodes.

So i wanted to get some fansubs to check out the first couple episodes and then go and buy the HK or R1 if it's cheap and good. (rare)

so yeah i just want to know if i can be fined 250,000 dollars for downloading the first like 4 eps or 6 eps of a series of 24-26 eps.

Thats about all......

It's nice when i can rent the stuff but when i can't always then what

[Spike_8]

WOW Cidien sorry about my jibbering just got caught off topic goin back and forth must just be one of them days
Its just once I here people talkin about fansubs i quickly think back on how much money I've wasted on bogus distro's. But I do beleave Iam correct by saying that fansubs are legal to distribute (Titles without licence's) also the main point of fansubs during there popularity was basicly to share anime (that wasnt avaliable in NA) with all the fans at no real cost other than shipping and Vhs.

[Elcoholic]

I think its illegal to tamper with material that doesn't belong to you and to distribute something (free or not) that isn't yours is always illegal. So spike, I don't think fansubs are legal under any circumstance but no way in hell anyone will prosecute you for it. Not that I give a fuck ofcourse