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Court Rules Fan Subtitles On TV and Movies Are Illegal (thenextweb.com)

Posted by msmash on from the making-things-complicated dept.

A court has just ruled that making fan subtitles or translations is not protected by the law. From a report: A Dutch group called the Free Subtitles Foundation took anti-piracy group BREIN to court over "fansubbing." BREIN has previously been active in taking fan subtitles and translations offline, and the Foundation was hoping a Dutch court would come down on the side of fair use. The court didn't quite see it that way. It ruled that making subtitles without permission from the property owners amounted to copyright infringement. BREIN wasn't unsympathetic, but said it couldn't allow fansubbers to continue doing what they're doing.

6 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Sucks, but derivative work by d34thm0nk3y · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That sucks, but, it's pretty clearly a derivative work...

    1. Re:Sucks, but derivative work by dfn5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Um.. no. Just like you can't just re encode a movie, you can't do a sentence by sentence translation, as the original material is copied in a form.

      I have been learning a foreign language over the last few years and the one thing I have concluded is that translation is an art form. One must convert the original language into a concept and then restate that concept in the target language in a natural way that makes sense to the target audience. The translation may look entirely different than the source material. And two people may translate the same material very differently. Transcription may be one thing but I would think translation would be protected.

      --
      -- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
  2. Promoting Progress of Science and useful Arts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to the United States Constitution, the purpose of copyright is...

    To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

    What is the pupose of copyright in the Netherlands, and how does this ruling support that purpose?

    1. Re:Promoting Progress of Science and useful Arts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The purpose of copyright in Netherlands is the same as in UK and Sweden:
      1. To incarcerate and punish the nationals for the sake of foreigners and their wallets.
      2. To maximize the outflow of cash from the local economy into foreign wallets.
      3. To proudly look at the American owners, let your tongue out, and wag your tail so you can be called a good puppy boy
      and patted on the head for doing actions 1. and 2.

  3. Copyright is for the profit of the creator by LeftCoastThinker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Copyright should not preclude fansubs or fandubs until there is content in that language for sale/rent to the public. If you won't serve a market, there is no reasonable expectation for financial benefit and thus fair use precludes you from shutting out fansubs and the like.

    --
    If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
  4. Former fansubber here by snarfies · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Back in the pre-digital days, I was part of a fansubbing group called Lupin Gang Anime. These days, I capture laserdiscs of the many titles that have never been reissued on DVD or better (https://www.otakubell.com/)

    I will continue to capture these endangered titles and put them on the internet. I will continue to do my best to preserve these titles from being lost. The only way I will stop is if I am locked up. Given the choice between following the law and doing what's right, I'll chose the later.