Kinema Club Subtitling Consortium

[Lang Thompson]

>    Just a question on the legality of this.  As far as the fan-subbing
>of anime goes, is this a legal practice?

Only if they have received permission from the copyright holder which they
probably haven't (one reason they're FAN subbed).  

>If they charge for only the blank tape and shipping versus charging
>additional for the service, does this make a difference in it being legal
>or not?

No, it only affects the potential damages.  Even if they gave the tapes
away it could still be copyright infringement.


> I know the video stores I rent my Japanese videos at (in America) all
>rent out copies of the original tapes, with permission.

You don't need permission to rent or sell a legally owned copy under what's
known as the first-sale doctrine (something that software companies have
gotten around by considering their products licensed rather than actually
sold).  


LT
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Lang Thompson
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/wlt4

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