The fact that we are translating it officially is already illegal, if not in the gray zone. You need to get the license from the author to publish their works, and this usually means you need to buy the license. Of course this also includes translation or derivatives of the works. In the Japan VS America law, Japan's are much more lax which is why we can continue translating them into various other languages. Copyright laws in the western world are very very strict. Not to mention the trigger-happy lawsuit country that is America.octapusxft wrote:Snail Press did again didn't they?
Not only they translate novels at a pace that can be slower than that of the author writing them but they do not seem to release most of them in digital version. Every novel that they take up is as good as dead unless someone has either a huge space to fill with paper based books or is willing to buy the paper-book, scan and store the contents and then recycle the book when done...
I feel like writing a complaint to Yen press for their lack of digital novels for all the good it may do.
PS: Could anyone please explain me the reasoning behind stopping the fan translation of novels before the licensed guys even start to distribute volume 1?
Yen Press bought all the licenses, so they would want to maximize profits as a business. This also means that by providing free translation we are undermining their profits, silly as it sounds. Although buying up all the license so that they can hold on to it is a shamisen move, this is their way of ensuring constant profits and to be ahead of the market in the west.
Baka-tsuki, as with all other people, do not want to be sued nor want to be shut down. So they came up with their regulation to ensure their survival and also to continue to provide us with a place to host all the translations. (This are all my assumptions though)
Conclusion is businesses will usually think about profits first. Look at EA and Ubisoft. We as consumers cannot do anything but bow down to them. Of course the underground sites in the deepweb are a different story, but that's none of my business.
