Saturday 1 March 2014

ANIME-Recent Legal Action (part 2):- After MFI's request was made public, only Genshiken, whose fansubs had been completed before the notifications, and Kimi ga Nozomu Eienwere licensed in the US. MFI's other major projects, including Pugyuru and Akane Maniax, were not picked up by American distributors. The lack of buzz that surrounded these titles has been linked by fansub supporters [ citation needed] to MFI's suppression of fan distribution. They argue that by cutting off this means of "free advertisement," MFI has alienated fans who would normally buy their products after they were licensed and kept the shows from being as widely exposed as they might otherwise be. [ citation needed] The end result, say fansub supporters, [ citation needed] is a reduced interest from American anime companies and a loss of revenue for the studio. However, in August 2006, School Rumblewas finally licensed by Funimation thanks to popularity of the series garnered from its manga release by Del Rey. It took the series over 2 years to be licensed, which was normal for anime licenses around 2002. [ citation needed]Since MFI's legal action against fansubbers, their number of licenses secured is below the industry average. [ citation needed] MFI's actions are sometimes used as an example in the fansub debate as a reason why other Japanese companies should not pursue similar injunctions. However, their titles are still being licensed. The anime series based on Emmaand Ariawere both licensed in 2008, and Area 88, Gankutsuou, Kurau Phantom Memory, Noein, Shura no Toki, and UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie were all licensed after the legal action in 2004. Recently, a few titles such as Street Fighter Generations were prelicensed, meaning that they were released simultaneously in Japan and North America, in an effort to negate the need for fansubs. However, some fansubbing of such titles still occurs, as some people prefer fansubs over commercial releases. Fansub opposers claim [ citation needed] that Japanese licensors have reportedly grown discontent with fansubbers because the ease of access with which their works are obtained has begun to affect foreign licensees' willingness to license a series, as evidenced by the Western market's sharp drop in new acquisitions in 2005. They also suggest [ citation needed] that anime fans in Japan have reportedly begun to turn to English fansubs which often appear days after a show's release, affecting sales in their home market. Indeed, Japanese companies have banded together to form JASRAC, a copyright holders' rights company, which has frequently taken YouTube to task for providing content which domestic Japanese viewers often use, which includes fansubs, as seen on their official site. A growing anti-fansub stance has been taken by US distributors, as seen in Geneon and ADV's comments at the State of the Industry Panel at Anime Boston, as well as recent comments by Matt Greenfield of ADV Films at Anime Central: "Answering a fan question on how ADV perceives the threat and challenge presented by fansubbers, Matt answered that while fan subtitling is hurting the industry both in the US and in Japan, 'the industry has to learn and adapt to new technology, and has to find ways to work around it.'" In Singapore, anime distributor Odexhas been actively tracking down and sending legal threatsagainst internet users in Singapore since 2007. These users have allegedly downloaded fansubbed anime via the BitTorrent protocol. Court orders onISPs to reveal subsc ...3,000 (US$ 2,000) per person, the youngest person being only 9 years old. These actions were considered controversial by the local anime community and have attracted criticisms towards the company, as they are seen by fans as heavy-handed.


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