Hmmm, would it be stealing manga if...

[Mayu Po]

Do any of you know the Kingdom Hearts Manga? On Final Fantasy Warcy, you can read a translated version. A person who can read Japanese so kindly translated it into English because it's not available in the U.S. So, would it be considered theft to Print it off and arrange it to look like a normal manga? I wouldn't sell it or anything, and I probably would only print off versions for myself. Under those conditions, though, is it considered theft or not?

Note: I know that this is Comic Creators, and that this topic isn't "technically" about creating a comic, but I wanted to know from the creators themselves since you'd probably know more about it than anyone else... Plus, I want to hear personal opinions about it as well.

[Stop Him]

The Copyright Act of the US considers all copying done without the consent of the original copyright owner to be a form of theft.

However, there are exceptions to that rule, based on certain criteria. This is the Fair Use clause of the law. In short, where the public good is served by the copying of the material, it is allowed. For instance, if a college professor wished to copy and distribute a certain work for use in discussion in a classroom, that would be considered acceptable under Fair Use. If someone was writing a review of something for a magazine and included a bit of text or pictures from the work, that would be Fair Use.

Since it's hard to make a case that translating a manga and printing it really "serves the public good", if you were to print 500 copies of this manga you're talking about and sell them, that would be theft. Even if you didn't actually sell them, it would still be illegal under the law and if the original copyright holder wanted to, they could sue you in court for doing it.

However, if you're only printing off 2 or 3 copies for yourself, it may be illegal, but it is not likely anyone's going to bother you over it. That would be such a minor infraction of the law, and there would be no profit to you, so for them to sue you would cost them more than it would be worth.

[m0cha]

but why don't you just read it on your computer instead of leaving paper trails?
unless you're nto talking about scanslation. ;_;

[radical jojo]

You just want to print it out so you have it in paper form? One copy for yourself? Go for it. Even if it is technically illegal, there's no harm in one copy for private use wherein no money is being made by anyone except the paper and ink producers.

[RyoSeikato]

It is okay if you only make it for private use. If it's for public use and done without the original creator's permission, it is illegal. On many things, it says something like this:

Quote:

To be used for private use only, not for public use. If you distribute it for public use, it will be against the law.

[m0cha]

unless you burn the evidence after.^^=

[Mayu Po]

m0cha

but why don't you just read it on your computer instead of leaving paper trails?
unless you're nto talking about scanslation. ;_;

2 reasons.

1.) Reading on the computer is very hard on my eyes after about an hour. Why I don't know. It just is...

2.) My friends and I like to exchange manga back and forth. Example; I own .Hack// but not Fruits Basket. My friend owns Fruits Basket but not .Hack// Ta da! We exchange and are both satisfied. This kind of thing happens amongst 5 of my friends and I, and if they wanted to read the Kingdom Hearts manga... well, I'd feel bad knowing they couldn't because of Inernet problems and what not...

So, yeah, that's about it...

[Mayu Po]

Well, thanks for telling me everyone. I have one more question; because the company is in Japan, would I be breaking the U.S. Copywrite law, Japanese Copywrite law, or neither because I live in the U.S. but am printing off a Japanese Manga not translated by anyone of the company?

[Stop Him]

Many countries follow the Berne Convention, which is simply an agreement that says that all those countries will follow the same copyright law.

As I understand it, US copyright assigns a copyright to all works created, even if it is created outside the country. If someone in Japan writes a book, and a copy of the book is shipped to the US, US copyright law still recognizes the Japanese author as the owner of the copyright.

So, actually, you'd probably be breaking BOTH country's laws. If anyone decided to prosecute, it would probably be a representative of the Japanese owner prosecuting you in an American court.

And it's the Copyright law, not copywrite. It is the right to copy, as in a right you have (like civil rights, or the Bill Of Rights), as opposed to writing a book.

There is such a thing as "copywriters", but they are the people who write the text for advertisements or announcements, that sort of thing.