Hello and a question of ethics

Rock · Yari Ashigaru Joined: Dec 05, 2004 Posts: 266

Hello,

As you can see, my handle's "Rock". Chances are, some of you have seen one or two posts by me. If not, no fear; I've been reading some of the scanlations here, but was never involved in the forums until recently.

While I hugely enjoy the array of scanned and translated manga here, I just hit a little problem.
A friend of mine told me that scanlations are inherently illegal, because they include the copying of existing manga and putting them on-line without permission from the creators/owners of said manga.
Is this true? Is the archive of scanlations on this site illegal? Is there a chance that you could be prosecuted for this fan project?
Or is there at least some level of permission?

Please note that I am asking this for my own peace of mind, not to impose on anyone else.

Lucifer · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 4:33 pm Post subject:

Well, the manga hosted at A-Source came from scanlation groups. If i'm not mistaken, the scanlation groups just use the raws and scans/translate it, then release it. They must give credits to the mangaka or its' original creators and not edit any part of it besides the language.

Since the manga isn't licensed yet so it shouldn't be considered illegal. However, once it has been licensed, continuing the scanlations is illegal and the group can be sued for this.

I may be wrong so anyone can correct me if i am.
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What's yours is mine, what's mine is still mine.

idjota · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:22 pm Post subject:

Technically it is illegal
however, as far as i know we dont receive any kind of payment for releasing the manga scanlated, its free for every one, so its like brining over stuff from another country and translating it for others to enjoy, i guess thats why people dont care much about it, unless its licensed in north america, then a lot of groups do stop scanlating because of american based distributors will most likeley sue them

Lucifer · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject:

I remember BadAndy from Animewaves mentioned he didn't receive any payments YET.. meaning he does get paid? Laughing

Well, you can always scan/translate a certain manga and pass it around among friends as long as you don't receive any payment since doing this isn't distributing the manga but to share it among friends, right? ^^
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What's yours is mine, what's mine is still mine.

idjota · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 11:08 pm Post subject:

yeah, but it would be the same like taking a game or software and letting your friend coppy it, but for some reason i dont feel bad about it

and no Bad Andy does not get paid (he wishes that he did though) all of the anime/ manga websites run on donations, so people go donate or click the ads

EternalParadox · Conscript Joined: Apr 10, 2005 Posts: 125

Well, if you want to become VERY technical, then both scanlation and fansubbing are illegal by international copyright laws.

that being said, scanlations and fansubbing that only continue to the point of licensing in their respective country is by the majority considered okay, even if not actively condoned. It IS illegal to continue once something is licensed in your country.

The japanese simply have not actively persectuted scanlators/fansubbers. It's too costly and impractical.

But the recent example of Media Factory (is that the name) sending cease and deceased letters to Lunar, animesuki, and scarywater to take their shows off produced a scare. But it seems that they only did it because some idiot leaked ep1 of Akane Maniax about 3 weeks before it's released and then fansubs came out.

I support those groups that follow the law in their country and cease distribution once the material is licensed. These are dedicated fans that do good work.

jmedog · newbie! Joined: Feb 18, 2006 Posts: 11

I'm not sure, but without it most of us would not have a chance to check-out any of it. We should still buy manga/anime to suport the artist. Wink

silverkitsune · Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:11 pm Post subject:

Though this is bit off topic, I want to bring up another big legal issues concerning manga and anime.
Doujinshi. Though it's only fanwork, lot of amateur doujin artists and groups make money from doujin that features popular anime characters. Technically it would be very illegal, but nobody ever sues the doujin artists for selling doujins containing their characters. Working as a doujin artist has become sort of a neccessary step to become a mangaka or character illustrator. Many of the successful mangaka or character designers started out as doujin artists drawing fanworks of existing anime. The companies never sue the doujin artists, because of the fanbase they generate. It's like they're nurturing the creative potentials of the future generations of mangaka and animators.

I think it's something US should learn from. Any type of underground fan parody and comics have long been supressed by big animation companies like Disney.
US lawmakers are planning to even further restrict artistic expressions that involves any trademark and copyright material. http://www.stockphotographer.info/content/view/77/98/

Fenix · Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:16 am Post subject:

One of the reasons the japanese anime companies don't sue the scanlators/translators is because they don't know how big the fansubbing community really is.

When the creator of animeonly.tv explained the huge fansubbing of anime on the internet to the japanese companies, they didn't believe him, no matter how hard he tried. Think this also implies manga.
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"It is also paradox that the earth moves round the sun, and that water consists of two highly inflammable gases. Scientific truth is always paradox, if judged by every-day experience, which catches only the delusive appearance of things."
-Karl Marx

jade_iblis · Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 12:32 pm Post subject:

It's not merely "technically illegal", in my opinion it's "totally" illegal.
I think it's very bad for the authors.
But it's also good advertisement.
And I believe that If you buy the original work when it gets out in your country then it's "nearly" all right...
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Objects don't need to possess any power with which it produces effects on our senses, because an object does not exist apart from our perception of it.