Japan asks USA to help stop illegal anime releases

They should surf more on the internet and see that they are benefiting from those

Even though I like Japan, I wish to continue watching online cause I become broke very easily~ T-T

Ok but we want the car and computer industry back though.

Well, looks like nothings really been done in 3 years~

And so the Apocalypses begins.

LOL you just make me laugh so hard on here, sir.

@mod
feel free to delete this one

\
the can maybe stop the americans, but they shall never stop the whole world!

Regarding YourMessageHere's AnimeSteam proposal, i'd point a few things out:

It's said that the music that can't be copied is the one that can't be listened. So it's useless to employ anti-piracy methods as exclusive format and watermarking. In fact, I think it's a horrible practice. People want to support the makers of anime, they only want a more fair system.
I think the price could be up to $2.00 for an 25 min. episode (or even more for a series like, say, Haruhi 2nd season), and teasers for free. I think the licensors job should be use the ready sub, produce a dub, burn it on a disc, design a good package and sell it. But I'm against stopping distribution on AnimeSteam once licensed.

=Sorry for the huge quote=

Even though I find this idea a good one, I'm affraid it is slightly unrealistic...
The industry moves slowly - some American companies are trying something simmilar with movies, but with not such a big success - it seems they don't quite understand the point...
Also, Japan is famous for overpricing their work - there is simply no way some things can pay themselves, even in the US, so I doubt you could keep the price down to 0.5 dollar.

Even though this would make anime accessible to me (I live in midde Europe), I would somehow miss the boxes. But that is just me - things like iTunes have proven, that people like stuff cheaper, in a lower quality.

The only way I'll stop downloading anime is if they stop making it.
And if they kill fansubs (they won't), I'll download it raw!
The U.S rapes animes/manga. Dubs suck ass.

If this happened, it would be entirely up to individual fansubber groups whether or not they chose to get paid and have their releases endorsed by the company, or continue distributing for free. However, if this were to happen, this would basically end the current 'legal grey area' that most fansubs operate in; if you were still distributing or downloading anime for free when a system like AnimeSteam existed, you'd be much more likely to be sued as you'd be much more obviously breaking the law, especially if it were available on AnimeSteam for such a small amount.

The main point of this idea is to create a way for anime fans everywhere to cheaply and easily enjoy legal anime; however, this requires it to be possible to make a clear distinction between what is legal and is not. Watermarked downloads would be necessary to stop widespread occurence of people ripping them into other formats and distributing them further. Perhaps makers of portable media devices might make their devices compatible with AnimeSteam, or some sort of limited copying might be built into AnimeSteam to allow this.



That's what I'm saying. Japanese Anime companies can pay fansubbers to translate new anime, and release it (in Japanese with subs only) for paid download at a very low price, my example being $0.50. If the original licensees give their blessings to the service, I don't see why it'd not be legal.


An illustrative example of how AnimeSteam would work:

-Black Lagoon ep. 1 airs in Japan on Monday.

-Geneon (?) pays a fansub group to quickly sub it and provides a high-quality raw file. They could even pay multiple groups to sub in multiple languages.

-The fansubbed episode is released for DL worldwide via AnimeSteam for $0.50 on Thursday.

-Each Monday, Black Lagoon airs on Japanese TV. Each Thursday, the new fansubbed ep. is released for DL.

-Once the whole 12 episodes are out, they remain available, for $0.50 each or $6 for the lot.

-ADV license it in the US. From this point on, it cannot be purchased in the US, but if you've already bought it, you can still watch it. Customers outside the US can still buy the fansubs.

-ADV release the series. From this point, AnimeSteam stops US customers from watching whatever episodes are released, even if you already own the fansubs, unless you either buy the right to own the DL, or you buy the DVD. Customers in other countries can still buy the fansubs if the series is not licensed in their countries.

-The Licensed DL and the DVD will both include dubs into other languages and extras that the fansub DL did not.

-Buying the licensed DL will be somewhat cheaper than the DVD, and if you already bought the fansub releases, you get the price you already paid knocked off the licensed DL too.

-If you buy the DVD you get a code included that entitles you to watch the licensed DL version too via AnimeSteam.

-Once you buy the licensed DL or enter the DVD code, you can download, watch and delete the episodes you own as many times as you like.

-Japanese customers can buy raws for the same price as fansubs until the domestic DVD release.

-Once DVDs are released in Japan, Japanese customers must buy the Jaoanese licenced DL or DVD. Otherwise the same rules apply.

EDITS: for clarity

OHHH no could this be the end of BitTorrent downloads. IF so i may die from boredom. DVD's are not that cheap :S

Wouldn't that need to ALL fansubs simply close? Even with something like that... i bet that a lot of ppl still would download it for free from fansubs, if available.
I don't like the "watermark" part too, lol

What if fansubs only did the subs itself, and you needed to buy the episodes? (For download, with good prices, since we would just download it in japanese)
Would that be legal? :P
Imagine having a international website, with paid downloads of new and unlicensed animes, with high-speed downloads... imo, it could work. "ATunes" LOL

Good to know, thanks!

Blue Gender > Gankutsuou

Actually, for the last few months, I've been really worried about CrunchyRoll...
It has LOADS of anime there which I would love to watch, but it is illegal, and I'm kinda scared the site might get discovered... =(

How are opinions wrong?

Anybody else, since when were opinions wrong?

That's not the problem, people can be different, but your just on the wrong side of this, there are certain animes I wouldn't care if you were on the bad side, but this your just plain wrong on.

Yes, the reproduction of the anime is clearly in violation of Article 9 of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, of which both the US, Japan, and most of the world are signatories. Furthermore, fansubbers are violating Article 8 of the treaty by making unauthorized translations. US copyright code is written to support this treaty, so it does have legal status here.

Berne Convention Article 8
Berne Convention Article 9

A PROPOSAL: ANIME STEAM

What Steam is:

A digital distribution network for PC games. You either buy a steam game on a disc from a physical shop, and it installs steam when you install the game from the disc, or you download steam free first and install it, then use its built-in shop to buy the game from the online Steam shop and download it, bypassing discs. This system is functioning, popular and very widely used today.


So what does this have to do with anime?

Steam updates your games automatically, and functions as an exclusive portal for playing these games, protecting against piracy. Also, when you preorder a game, it pre-loads it. On release day, it unlocks it and you can play the game the moment it's available. Another advantage of the Steam model: you can delete and uninstall anything you like, and redownload it for free - when you buy a Steam game, you buy the right of access to it, rather than the specific download.

SO, WHAT IF

Anime studios and distributors and the fansubbing community clubbed together and offered really cheap subbed anime episodes in a similar fashion?

Studios and Japanese publishers could pay fansubbers a modest amount for their work, in return for exclusivity regarding distribution of the download.

Once a show was licensed for release in a particular country, it would become unavailable to AnimeSteam users in that country, including the copies already downloaded, unless users bought the series. Video files would only be usable through AnimeSteam, and be watermarked so that anyone who adapted them to work outside AnimeSteam would be clearly breaking the rules.

This could be buying the DVD, in which case each DVD would include a code similar to the CD keys that come with games, allowing you access to the steam version of the series.

Alternatively, you could buy the series (that is to say, buy the right of access to the series from AnimeSteam) directly from the service's shop. However, the money you spent on episodes would be deducted from buying the digital download version, and since this would not involve packaging, it would be a bit cheaper than DVD anyway.

Bandwidth would be saved by using a modified version of bittorrent for downloads (similar to the patch util for World of Warcraft, except done better).


WHY THIS IS A GOOD IDEA

-This would safeguard people's intellectual property rights.

-Legitimises downloading at minimal cost to individuals.

-By involving the fansubbing community, you gain experienced and respected translators capable of translating an episode fast, and at minimal cost.

-By charging a minimal fee ($0.50 per episode maybe) you cover your running costs such as keeping the network up and running.

-people such as the majority of us here could keep downloading anime, but would be supporting its creators even more than we do when we buy DVDs.

-keeping episodes cheap makes it really easy to try new things

-ability to cut out the whole distribution chain lowers costs and maximises profits for the creators.

-western distribution firms still profit by supplying the dubbed versions of licensed anime, and continue to put out DVD releases for those who prefer to own a physical object.

-Totally undercuts bootleggers while staying fully legitimate.

-sets out a distinct "right way" to download anime - no more grey areas.
-While the idea of AnimeSteam doesn't in any way stop existing distribution channels, look at how much iTunes has become accepted vs. illegal music DLs. iTunes, in the general public eye, is "the right way to get music off the internet"; the same could happen here for anime.

-while such systems are always exploited by a few people, the nature of this network is such that it can always be updated and the updates automatically applied to everyone. This would also include updates to codecs etc.

-Steam is an extremely effective way to combat piracy; it's possible to work round it but not easy, unlike most non-steam games.

-Steam is very simple to use and contains many great features - a straightforward shop interface, an easy way to launch your games for basics, and recently it has added a community aspect, including the ability to send instant messages to friends while in-game (like Xbox Live).


WHAT IS REQUIRED
-a network of servers across the world. However, if this is going to be based on bittorrent or a similar peer-to-peer distributed network, the server infrastructure needn't be as big as Steam currently is.
-a video format that is unique to AnimeSteam and can be watermarked.
-flexibility and openness to new ideas from the industry.
-initial outlay of money, obviously.