Anime Fansubs -- legal?

[Ronin Storm]

I'm watching a couple of Anime series at the moment -- Bleach (subbed by Lunar) and Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig (subbed by LMF). As there's simply no way that I could understand the Japanese, I can only watch a subbed version and the only subbed versions available are fansubs. If they were available to buy, with decent subs, in a way that wasn't eBay-theft or whatever then I'd seriously consider it. But they aren't, as far as I can see.

So, that leads me to wondering on the legal status of fansubbing. Is it legal? Is it just accepted as necessary until the series are licensed?

By the by, a friend has picked up more than one series of this or that from eBay and only one was any good at all -- the SAC 2nd Gig subs were utterly useless, for example. Besides, I strongly suspect that these eBay sales aren't ever funding anyone responsible for the creation of the Anime so I'd never buy from that route. LMF seem to feel the same way and put a note on the front of their subs to tell people that it was released for free and is not for sale or eBay. In short, I'd recommend to anyone actually looking at this to stick with BitTorrent and avoid the eBay route!

 

[Ronin Storm]

[mod]Self-moved from The Chat Box to The Soap Box.[/mod]

 

[Pestcontrol]

I think translating is converting the language, it doesn't change the legal status. I guess it's just as accepted until the series are licensed.
The only thing is the translation cannot be approved by the original author, i'm not sure what the implications of that are.

Have there ever been any court cases over it? If not, i wouldn't worry too much. You'll hear the rumble before thunder strikes, anyway.

 

[DocBot]

the legality of this is ...cloudy...

in sweden at least, you're allowed to translate stuff if you like, you even get copyright on the material you produce spreading the translation is illegal however. whether this means _selling_ it or giving it away is not quite clear, at least not afaik.

It should not, however, be illegal to dowload subs, in the same manner that it isn't illegal to download a cover of a song (although it might be illegal to make that cover in the first place)

 

[Fuzzy Bunny]

As far as I know, it's legal to download fansubs until the series is licensed. I've also heard that there are numerous series licensed that haven't been put out in a buyable form.

 

[Ronin Storm]

Both Lunar and LMF seem to take careful note of what is licensed and what is not, and Lunar remove torrents for licensed material. I guess that's a fairly good pointer, but sometimes things that are done because they seem good still aren't legal.