Re: [dvd-discuss] Slightly OT - Japanese copyrights

["Michael A Rolenz" <Michael.A.Rolenz(at)aero.org>]

But as you point out, translation from one language to another is not 
mechanical (take a look at babelfish sometime) but does require some 
effort and expression on the part of the translator. Translating poety is 
among the hardest (I've NEVER seen a decent translation of Baudelaire or 
Verlaine). Furthermore, a good translator does not just translate the 
denotations of words but their connotations. Again, that requires some 
expression upon the part of the translator.




Noah silva <nsilva@atari-source.com>
Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
02/28/02 09:42 AM
Please respond to dvd-discuss

 
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        Subject:        Re: [dvd-discuss] Slightly OT - Japanese copyrights


lol, I hadn't thought of it that way.
But... I think that's questionable.  Remember:
Copyright covers an Expression, not an idea.
Think about it, translating is all about expressing the same idea in a
different way.  Believe me, since I can read english and understand
Japanese, sometimes when I have watched Anime with english subtitles, it
isn't even close to being accurate, they just put in something that fits
and makes sense for english viewers.  (and in songs, when they translate,
they go for what rhymes in the target language, not what is accurate).

 -- noah silva

On Thu, 28 Feb 2002, Ernest Miller wrote:

> The dialogue is copyrighted.  Subtitles would be a derivative work.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Noah silva" <nsilva@atari-source.com>
> To: <dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] Slightly OT - Japanese copyrights
> 
> 
> > By the way, this could be made easier with electronic media.  I'll use 
the
> > example of a VCD.  Copy the .DAT (MPEG VIDEO) file to your hard
> > disk.  Edit it to add the subtitles.  Do a diff against the original 
to
> > produce a patch.  Just sell your patch.  You could sell it with or 
without
> > the original video.  You aren't trafficing in modified videos then, 
just
> > the difference between the video and the subtitled version.  Even if 
the
> > file is rather large, I am sure it would still be small enough to fit 
on a
> > CD.
> >
> > The end user could apply the patch to the [original] DAT file [on his
> > CD] and make his own subtitled version.  He could even burn a new VCD 
by
> > copying the original but substituting in his new DAT with the 
subtitles.
> >
> > I'd like to see someone try to sue me for supplying a .diff file to 
add
> > subtitles to something ;)
> >
> >   -- noah silva
> 
> 
>