| Mnementh said: From a purely legal standpoint, yes it is copyright infringement. But if you insinuate fan translation cost the japanese writers/developers money, you're wrong |
Not sure if it's that simple. Let me give you an example.
I have friends whose English is not very good. In order to watch a show like LOST, they have to wait for their local channel to air it with official Greek subtitles. That way, the Greek channel pays a certain ammount to the production company of LOST.
However, there are free Greek transaltions on certain sites. In order to use these subtitles, you obviously have to download the mkv/avi/mpg file of the LOST episode that is available on torrent sites an hour after it airs (or, to be more accurate, used to air) in America. Since they have the option to watch it the next day, thanks to the fansubs, they don't bother with the official release from their local channel that is actually paying money for the rights. The ratings end up being terrible and the channel stops airing the show. In other words, the fansubs cost the writers/production company money.
Same with Naruto (i.e. a Japanese example). If the only option people had was to wait for the dvd release or the dubbed version, they'd have to wait for those. Now that I have already watched all the Naruto episodes, I don't feel like watching them again on TV when they officially air or buy the blu-ray version, since I've seen them and they'd all take space.
With Dragon Ball, I didn't have that option, so all I could do was watch the show on TV.
