03-07-2005, 01:01 AM
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
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