[X] My Assistant

scanlation is very helpful when anime/manga/videogames haven't gotten an international release/excluded storylines,
including raw works without DRM (Digital Rights Managment).
[en.wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanlation
if you live in a country that has laws similar to CFAA (Computer Fraud And abuse Act), in other words: it
criminalize anyone violating the terms and conditions of a website. these suggestions might help.
(i'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice. based on what i read, these support my theory):

according to "fair use" translating manga is not copyright infringement, especially if you bought the raw.
[en.wikipedia.org] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#Comm...sunderstandings
removing DRM of a work you bought is also legal (most websites sell DRM free movies).
unfortunately, most translation/scanning groups use file sharing websites that a have a policy against porn/copyright material.
so i highly recommend translators/scanners use their own servers to share (that dont have anti porn/copyright policies.
for example:
[kusanyagi.blogspot.com] http://kusanyagi.blogspot.com
uses his own servers to share what he's translated.
[kusanyagi.doujin-moe.us] http://kusanyagi.doujin-moe.us/%5Bkusanyag...yndrome_ENG.zip

2nd example:
thier were 2 groups that translated "namco x capcom" and "valkeria cronicles" (these games only got released in japan),
the team that translated "namco x capcom" said on thier website that the translation patch was free but they require that you show them a recipt first.
[transgen.awardspace.com] http://transgen.awardspace.com/ (defunct)
the ones translating "valkeria chronicles" also said that thier translation was free,
but they said that thier translation patch can only be legally used if the one downloading already bought a physical/digital copy.
(assuming they already bought a copy)
[vc3translationproject.wordpress.com] http://vc3translationproject.wordpress.com...d-instructions/
according to [www.romhacking.net] http://www.romhacking.net/faq/?page=faq#question1
distributing patches is legal.

lastly,
fakku (who's partnered with wani magazine) allows free reading/downloading of translated works,
manga/anime can be bought at their website too.
they also have their own payment processor that allows porn sales.

so translators/scanners please use "porn friendly payment systems"/servers that you own to share.
(please confirm if you made these changes.)
based on what i read so far: 3rd party bitcoin services requires personal info such as a bank account.
so bitcoin might not be the best option.

possible donating options?:
ccbill
(example of donating via ccbill:
[www.lisasparxxx.com] http://www.lisasparxxx.com/spoil.html)

patreon
[www.patreon.com] http://www.patreon.com/kogeikun
(hentai foundry artists use these.)

crowd funding websites (that are porn friendly)

I don't know where you found this text dump, but it's dangerously poorly informed.

* Translating, even when an original copy is bought, is almost certainly NOT going to be fair use if you make that translation public. Doing "rewrites" is likely safer than translating because it is transformative and can be considered parody. Translating itself is derivative, as in we derive the text that goes in bubbles from the original text.

* The CFAA is almost always about hacking, not merely breaking Terms of Service.

* Even assuming that you are safe from the CFAA and other potential criminal penalties, the CIVIL penalties are totally unaddressed here. When you are sent a Cease and Desist letter, 999 times in 1000 it is because the originator is threatening CIVIL action, not criminal.

* Putting potential materials on "their own servers to share" is only going to INCREASE the potential legal liabilities, not decrease them.

* Removing DRM from a product is not legal if you then make the DRM-free version public. Whoever told you otherwise is greatly mistaken. Doing so absolutely will subject you to potential civil liability, and may subject you to criminal as well. Buying a DRM song off of Itunes and then burning it to a CD (i.e. DRM free) is one thing. Ripping that CD to get the music back in digital form in a DRM free state is something totally different, especially if you then post it to the internet.

I don't claim to be a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. I do have more than a little experience with the US legal system, though, and I know something about copyright/trademark/patent infringement. Believe me, it is a BIG money business.

UF

This post has been edited by ultimaflaral: Oct 11 2014, 02:52

This :
[en.wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanlation#Legal_action
Stay away from aggressive Japanese publishers, they'll send ninjas to your house (;_;)

there are some things i dont understand, please clarify:
if this is still not within "fair use"/legal, why would sites bother having a DMCA/FAQ/disclaimer?:
for example:
the site coolroms, they have rom versions of snes games that had disclaimers on the back of the game that said,"unauthorized reproduction
is forbidden", but coolroms still disclaims that owning an original copy is still required to legally download.
sites like these encourage readers to support the artist,
https://e-hentai.org/s/44199241cb/643951-28
and that downloads are for those that have already bought a copy (in some FAQ).

Encouraging readers to buy a physical copy doesn't make it legal.

For roms, I believe those sites exist because of the backup clause in copyright, but I can't find anything explicitly stating that is why those sites continue to exist.

how do explain sites (similar to this) and tv shows (TMZ, the news, review shows) using copyright material without asking, i understand that sites can either accept DMCA requests or disputed it in court.
the guy who owns the "frog town series" requested that obscurus lupa not review his movies, which she agreed to for some reason.
for example:
when SOPA was an issue a lot of sites, including mainstream ones
thatguywiththeglasses.com
made it clear that these shows couldn't legally continue if SOPA was legal.

so if i understand correctly:
hosting copyright material is legal until a cease and desist letter is sent?

Showing bits and pieces of copyrighted works is often okay under fair use, even in a commercial setting. Showing ENTIRE copyrighted works is a great way to get sued.

Here's an example. Tosh.0 decides one day to do a humorous sketch about the supposed phrase "take off your clothes," which some people claim can be barely heard in the Disney movie, Aladdin. As part of their humorous broadcast, they show a brief 8-10 second clip of the spot in that movie where the words can supposedly be heard. Doing this would likely NOT be problematic as they can argue both that the short clip is used for identification purposes (both to identify the movie generally and the spot in the movie where the words allegedly are more specifically), and that the use is parody for humorous purposes. If they were to show the ENTIRE Aladdin film, however, it's blatant copyright infringement and Disney will burn down their studio.

The problem with SOPA (or at least, ONE of the problems) was that it basically gutted the safe harbor provisions that the DMCA provides for, in which websites can take down allegedly infringing material and prevent any legal issues. As such, the presence of any infringing material at any time meant potential lawsuit liability. This was terrifying to companies like rapidshare, etc, who may or may not know about any infringing material at all since it's all user posted.

I have no idea what frog town series is. If he asked a reviewer not to post reviews and the guy said he wouldn't, then I guess the reviewer just felt like being a nice guy.

UF

This is why using internet for so long have dulled everyone's sense of law and just.
Music that you can download for free: Illegal
Movie that you can watch for free: Illegal
Those Harry Potter books that you can read for free, even translated in your own language by someone?: Illegal
Every free things you get from internet, no matter if it was translated, that the copyright never said anything about free: ILLEGAL
So I lived my life consumed millions of illegal goods? ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL.

So I'd rather not tick off those with copyrights, we never do legal things anyways.

if its illegal why edit/translate?
that still doesn't explain why some sites bother to have DMCA/disclaimers, even though as you say," are illegal".

if its illegal why edit/translate?

I'm sure everyone has their own reasons:
- to keep practicing Japanese while doing something they like,
- because, even though it's illegal, there is no legal offer where they live,
- because they think culture should be accessible to all, not only to those who can afford it,
- because they don't care about the legality of it and just want to do what they enjoy,
- because everyone does illegal things on the internet, so translating manga can't be much worse than, say, downloading movies or watching porn,
- for the e-peen,
- because they're displeased with official translations or the official translation business,
- because they think they can do better than official translations,
- etc.

Why? Because it's basically harmless. The vast, vast, VAST majority of people who download English-translated doujins would NEVER have purchased the original one in Japanese even if they could, and most of them can't. As such, English translations do not impact doujin sales at all. Essentially, copyright infringement is a civil matter.

Say St. Rio gets upset that we are translating their doujins. The easiest thing for them to do is to send a DMCA-styled takedown demand, which e-hentai would probably respect. That said, actually seeking damages against translation groups, is a very different story. It is not unlikely that they could prove in a court that a group infringed, BUT: (1) showing how much they have been "damaged" by the unofficial translations will be difficult, and a small number besides; and (2) the cost of actually pursuing litigation against such people would be at least 100 times higher than they would expect to recover. That's not hyperbole. International copyright law is expensive to prosecute.

As such, while a pissed off doujin artist could probably get the galleries in question taken down, actually going after the people who translated them in the first place would be a ridiculous thing to do. What we do is simply too low-key to be worth targeting for a lawsuit. I will note that E-Hentai DOES have a list of author's/copyright-holders whose works we aren't supposed to post.

I don't know what you mean by a "DMCA disclaimer." Generally a site will have some sort of warning to the effect of "we can't actually know what users will actually post. If you think something is infringing, contact [email] with [list of necessary bits of information]." They have these to take advantage of the DMCA safe harbor provisions if someone actually does notify them. Essentially, most websites assume that content posted to their sites is NOT copyright violating until shown otherwise, even if 99% of all traffic turns out to be infringing (e.g. file-hosting services). With the safe-harbor provisions, a website CANNOT be sued as long as the material is taken down after notification. It's a nice deal for them, and perhaps the prime reason so many websites were pissed about SOPA.

UF

This post has been edited by ultimaflaral: Oct 12 2014, 04:18

I do have more than a little experience with the US legal system, though,
and I know something about copyright/trademark/patent infringement. Believe me, it is a BIG money business.

if thier is alot of money in copyright they could
still get translators/editors in trouble, eventhough you said, " Because it's basically harmless."

copyright infringement is a civil matter.

according to
[en.wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Copy...e_United_States
copyright infringment is both civil and criminal.

Putting potential materials on "their own servers to share" is only going to INCREASE the potential legal liabilities, not decrease them.

this site and fakku have thier own servers, as you said, "DMCA-styled takedown demand, which e-hentai would probably respect."
so removing content on servers should decrease liability.

besides if sites like these can use loopholes, translators/editors should do the same:
[thetsuuyaku.blogspot.com] http://thetsuuyaku.blogspot.com/p/disclaimer.html
[thehentaiworld.com] http://thehentaiworld.com/?new
[vc3translationproject.wordpress.com] http://vc3translationproject.wordpress.com...d-instructions/
[www.romhacking.net] http://www.romhacking.net/faq/?page=faq#question1
[www.lisasparxxx.com] http://www.lisasparxxx.com/spoil.html
[coolrom.com] http://coolrom.com/faq.php#5
starshiptitus.com (used to offer free reading of copyright manga not owned by the site,
[hentaikey.com] http://hentaikey.com (also offers manga/anime they dont own the copyright to)
[en.wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAKKU (the same, even though fakku is a u.s based company)

The CFAA is almost always about hacking, not merely breaking Terms of Service.

CFAA still criminalizes violating "terms of use", it was going to be ammended, but it didn't.
[en.wikipedia.org] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Frau...ct#Aaron_Swartz

There is, as I said, a lot of money in copyright protection. That said, when you sue the average internet user, how much money do you think you can collect? Most of us who spend much time on the internet are somewhere between 12-22 in age, are still in school or training, and have not yet entered into a full-time profession. This means by and large the average internet user doesn't have much money.

Now consider this: a high-priced copyright/patent attorney might bill at around $350 per hour of work. If a case goes to trial, you are talking about hundreds of hours of work in preparation. Spending $50,000 in attorneys fees is EASY for copyright and patent cases, particularly if they are international cases. But the real question is this: who do you know is willing to spend $50,000 to sue someone who, in all likelihood, is not even in a permanent job yet? Do you see the problem? There is a concept called being "judgment proof." Look it up, if you like.

It is true that there can be criminal aspects to copyright infringement, but it's generally rare and only for egregious stuff. Frankly, it's got to be both blatant and widespread before you're likely going to see a federal prosecutor get the least bit interested.

I have no idea if we are even arguing about the server stuff. My comment was, keeping potentially infringing files on YOUR OWN servers is a bad idea. Right now, everyone just keeps the files on the E-Hentai galleries, which has a takedown process. I don't see what you think should be done differently.

Your point on violations of terms of service is debatable. The case you linked to did NOT go to trial, so the validity of that reading of the law has never actually been tested. I'll point out that Aaron's prosecution is just about universally seen as a gross misreading of the law, so I rather doubt the CFAA is ever really going to work that way.

UF

I think that the only way for a scanlator would get in deep (legal) trouble is if you start selling it on a wide scale.

And I'm talking about published books not self-published doujinshi.

Agreed, that's exactly what I'm talking about. If you opened up a business in which you were selling volumes in real bulk, then you aren't "judgment proof" anymore, and a prosecutor will be more interested in you as well.

UF

That or ignoring a DMCA takedown notice.

By the way regarding copyright, don't you think doujin artists are violating it by using copyrighted characters in their manga? Do the companies go after them? No they don't. Because doing so will kill the manga industry.

Unless you copy Disney characters.

This post has been edited by N04h: Oct 12 2014, 08:51

I'd say doujins are almost certainly infringing and not fair use. Someone could try to argue "parody", but I doubt it would fly. According to Wikipedia, it seems clear that doujinshi violate Japanese copyright law, but they are universally seen as supporting the manga/anime markets, not detracting from them.

UF

@jilltim

Why are you still going at this? What do you wish to achieve? If you want to turn scanlation into legal things, we'd appreciated the thought, but that simply can't be done. Think of the authors, publishers too, would they truly want scan/trans to become legal? Let's make some situations:

o When scanlation is still illegal: What? My old manga from 2 years ago got attentions and translated into English ? Meh, who care, never plan to republish them, much less overseas market. But if they dare to touch my current Manga projects, I'll just file some complaints and take them down, the Law is in my side after all.

o When scanlation become legal: WTF? I just published my work yesterday, and they're already all over the net ? (*cough*One Piece*cough*) You are my publisher, do something about it. WHAT? Because translation is legal, we CAN'T FKING DO ANYTHING? FK THE LAWWWWW!

So yeah, we'd better not have that "judgment proof" and let copyrighters kill off/allow us to live whenever they want.

Yeah my point is that just because a law is being broken, it doesnt always mean you will be punished for it.

petty crimes/loosely enforced laws can still get someone into trouble.
(aaron swartz should knows this better than anyone)
thats why i asked that loopholes be used when translating/editing/scanning.
examples of legally downloading:
the disclaimer thats included with roms usually says,"you can only legally use this if you already own a copy"

[kusanyagi.blogspot.com] http://kusanyagi.blogspot.com/
he uses a payment service that allows translating
and has his own servers, exept he doesn't have DMCA section or at least a diclaimer like
[thetsuuyaku.blogspot.com] http://thetsuuyaku.blogspot.com/p/disclaimer.html

as far as scans/editing:
what if they had a system similar to j-comi?
[torrentfreak.com] http://torrentfreak.com/distributor-offers...e-files-110411/