Editing Fansub (section)

==Legal and ethical issues==
Hye-Kyung Lee, a lecturer at [[King's College London]], states that anime fansubbers embody the general characteristics of fans described by John Fiske: fansubbers are motivated by a strong affection for anime, devotion to sharing it with other fans, a sense of community interaction with their viewers, a desire to work collaboratively in a group, and a strong desire to support the local animation industry by promoting anime culture and widening anime's accessibility. Lee describes fansubbers as involved in productive activities that enhance their knowledge of anime, improve their skills, and develop a final product.<ref name=Lee>{{cite journal |url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/participatory-media-fandom-a-case-study-of-anime-fansubbing%28cbe6bb0d-e49b-4457-ba3f-68e701547f41%29.html |last=Lee |first=Hye-Kyung |title=Participatory media fandom: a case study of anime fansubbing |journal=Media, Culture & Society |date=November 2011 |volume=33 |issue=8 |pages=1131–1147 |access-date=2014-08-04 |doi=10.1177/0163443711418271 |s2cid=143091243 |archive-date=2014-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808053624/https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/participatory-media-fandom-a-case-study-of-anime-fansubbing%28cbe6bb0d-e49b-4457-ba3f-68e701547f41%29.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The goal of the first anime club, Cartoon Fantasy Organization, and its subsequent chapters was to proselytize and promote anime. Sean Leonard and Lee agree that without fan distribution that began in the 1970s and 1980s, the anime industry would not take off as it did in the 1990s.<ref name=Leonard /><ref name=Lee /> Some companies such as [[Protoculture Addicts]] with its titular magazine and [[Viz Media]] with ''[[Animerica]]'' drew their origins from anime club fanzines in the early history of fansubs.<ref name=Leonard />

Lee describes an unspoken rule in the early fan community: "once the anime was licensed the fansubbed version should no longer be circulated".<ref name=Lee /> As a result, many fansubbers do not view themselves as pirates.<ref name="Solomon">{{cite news | last=Solomon | first=Charles | title=File Share and Share Alike | work=New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/arts/21solo.html?ex=1282276800&en=91a6bf6f3813c78f&ei=5090&partner=geartest&emc=rss | date=August 21, 2005 | access-date=September 24, 2009 | archive-date=April 27, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427042638/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/arts/file-share-and-share-alike.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Sean Leonard distinguishes fansubs from bootlegs in this period, arguing that fansubs followed that unspoken rule, whereas bootlegs aimed to make a profit. Many fansubs began to include a "This is a free fansub: not for sale, rent, or auction" disclaimer as a response to bootleggers, and would encourage viewers to buy official copies.<ref name=Leonard /> As fansubbing was so expensive in the 1980s, and official Western releases of anime were rare and often poor-quality, bootlegging tended to be financially infeasible during this period.

Early fansubs would often have markedly worse visual quality than official releases, as the VHS tapes of fansubs would deteriorate from repeated copying; this reduced the level of competition between fansubs and official releases.<ref name=Leonard /><ref name=Lee /> During the 1980s, US publishers typically found fansubbing useful for testing demand and broadening their fanbase, whereas Japanese publishers treat fansubbing as something remote and insignificant. Lee states that some Japanese producers even praised fansubbers' efforts at promoting their work overseas.<ref name=Lee /> However, ongoing technological advancement complicated that relationship. As subtitling became more affordable in the 1990s, both fansubbing and official Western releases of anime enjoyed an upswing. Further advances in the twenty-first century made each step of the fansubbing process easier and cheaper, and the visual standards of fansubs improved dramatically.

These technological developments were also coupled with shifts in how fansubs were produced and distributed. Fansubs began to be shared mostly online, first on [[IRC]] and then over [[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]].<ref name="ANN Interview Fansubber">{{cite news |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2008-03-11 |title=Interview With The Fansubber |work=Anime News Network |date=March 11, 2008 |access-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-date=March 31, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331023918/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2008-03-11 |url-status=live }}</ref> The move to the Internet also enabled the globalization of the fansubbing community; although English remained the dominant language among fansubbers, the consumption of fansubs expanded worldwide.<ref name=Lee /> This globalization was one factor in fansubbers moving away from their earlier aim of not competing against the official releases: because anime might only be licensed to certain international markets, some fansubbers argue that they would be abandoning the rest of the world if they stopped circulating fansubs of series that received official US releases.<ref name=Lee /> Fansubbers have also continued to subtitle and release shows owned by companies that significantly edit the shows they own, such as [[4Kids]].{{efn|4Kids attempted an uncut re-release of their shows ''[[Shaman King]]'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' in the 2000s, but 4Kids CEO Alfred Kahn stated that their sales fell short of the company's expectations, and so their production was discontinued.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2005-04-24/alfred-r-kahn |title=Alfred R. Kahn |work=Anime News Network |date=April 24, 2005 |access-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-date=July 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717062849/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2005-04-24/alfred-r-kahn |url-status=live }}</ref>}}{{cn|date=April 2024}} The change in fansubbers' attitudes may also derive from shifts in the attitudes of their consumers: fans began to demand greater immediacy in the digital era, and the lower barrier of entry facilitated the emergence of casual fans who were less willing to purchase and collect DVDs.<ref name=Lee />

The anime industry's views on fansubbing hardened as fansubs became more widespread. The 1993 [[Anime Expo]] was the first time when US industry representatives publicly discussed the ways in which pre-existing copies were eating into profits.<ref name=Leonard /> In the 2000s, US companies have gone farther, and directly blamed fansubbers for the decline in DVD sales.<ref name=Lee /> Representatives of companies such as [[Geneon]] and ADV Films have publicly criticized fansubs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://animeondvd.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid/19708/tp/12/|title=Why do R1 companies suddenly hate us?|publisher=AnimeonDVD.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200506/http://animeondvd.com/forum/showtopic.php?tid%2F19708%2Ftp%2F12%2F|archive-date=2007-09-27|url-status=dead|access-date=July 19, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2007/anime-central/advfilms|title=Anime Central 2007&nbsp;– ADV Films|last=Koulikov|first=Mikhail|date=May 12, 2007|work=Anime News Network|access-date=July 19, 2007|archive-date=July 15, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715010638/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2007/anime-central/advfilms|url-status=live}}</ref> Japanese copyright holders have also begun to take action against fansubs. The Japanese copyright society [[JASRAC]] began requesting takedowns against YouTube-based fansubs during the 2000s,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jasrac.or.jp/release/06/12_2.html|title=Press release|publisher=Jasrac.or.jp|access-date=July 19, 2007|archive-date=June 23, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623013009/http://www.jasrac.or.jp/release/06/12_2.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and groups such as [[Media Factory]] and [[Nippon TV]] have requested that their works be removed from download sites.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Some figures from the anime industry still maintain a positive view of fansubs. For instance, Steve Kleckner of [[Tokyopop]] described fansubs as "flattering [rather than] threatening", and stated that fansubs provided publishers with a means to identify what media their customer base might want to see.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/vol2-4/hatcher.asp#sdendnote175anc|title=Of Otakus and Fansubs|author=Hatcher, Jordan|publisher=[[University of Edinburgh]]|access-date=September 24, 2009|archive-date=February 17, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217024839/http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/SCRIPT-ed/vol2-4/hatcher.asp%23Quality#sdendnote175anc|url-status=live}}</ref>

Intellectual property lawyer Jordan Hatcher situates fansubs on the boundary between the desirable [[doujinshi]] fan culture and the "massive online file trading so vilified by the recording and motion picture industries". Legal scholar [[Lawrence Lessig]] states that the re-working of culture—remix—is necessary for cultural growth, and points to doujinshi in Japan as an example of how permitting remixes can contribute to a vibrant cultural industry. However, Hatcher states that fansubs are not analogous to this type of remix because their aim is to remain faithful to the original. Furthermore, Hatcher states that fansubs compete with the original cultural product since they have the potential to replace the market need for official translations, thus creating a similar situation to the debate over [[peer-to-peer]] file trading.<ref name="Hatcher appendix" /> Conversely, [[Henry Jenkins]] has argued that fansubbing has a positive impact on the anime industry through its function as publicity.<ref>{{cite web | author=Jenkins, Henry | title=When Piracy becomes Promotion | work=Reason Magazine | url=http://www.reason.com/news/show/116788.html | date=December 2006 | access-date=September 24, 2009 | archive-date=September 3, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903113644/http://reason.com/news/show/116788.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Hatcher states that copyright law does not condone fansubs. The [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works|Berne Convention]], an international copyright treaty, states that its signatories—including Japan—grant authors exclusive right to translation. Hatcher states that fansubs could "potentially" be legal within Japan given the nature of Japan's domestic copyright laws, although the target audience of fansubs is the non-Japanese market. However, Hatcher notes that copyright law in the United States—the frame of reference for most online discussions of fansub legality—construes translations as derivative,<ref name="Hatcher appendix" /> and holds that fansubs infringe on the author's right to prepare derivative works{{citation needed |date=August 2014}} and to reproduction by copying original source material.<ref name="Hatcher appendix" />