Wuxiaworld's Exclusivity - The Contract

@rwxwuxiaworld

Thank you for posting the contract Ren. Just a question, does that first part limit WW to only posting the exclusive translations on the WW website itself or can it post on other sites as well? For example, does this limit WW’s TLs from posting advanced chapters on Patreon?

 

As can be seen from me saying I googled it, I know do not know Chinese law and if that is true or not; nor do I know what Shanghai Xuanting's corporate structure is; nor if Cloudary Holdings Limited is a subsidiary/branch/affiliate of Shanghai Xuanting; nor if Chinese law even has anything regarding intra-company licenses between a parent company and a subsidiary/branch/affiliate, and if getting a license for such situations is even necessary.

It's a lot of not knowing, but that's why you have a lawyer for this and I don't.

 

to the bolded part, i think if the situation is pushed far enough NU might not be able to remain truly neutral and if that happened would probably side with RWX and WuxiaWorld. The preceding sentence is all extremely hypothetical after all, though. Im just talking out my hindquarters.

Someone pass me some chocolate chip cookies.

 

NU won't do anything unless they come to terms on court or something.

Poaching is by no means a new thing, it is why NU has a few policies to stop people from posting chapters of any novel they translate right away. (as in, the 50 chapters thing)

NU has no reason to intervene between Qidian and WW, and it will keep that way.

 

I want to question the 50 chapters minimum limit and how that is applied. Counting listed chapters, QI has only posted 18 chapters which are linked in the chapter list for HJC. 18. Shouldnt the 50 chapter rule thus be in effect? Why then are the QI chapter for HJC being linked by whatever process controls the linking?

@Tony @Parth37955

Can you give your staff opinions and/or explanations please. Also, is there like a page for the rules related to NU itself. tired and cant seem to find it (if it is member accessible)

 

NU wont do anything period. it will remain claiming neutrality even far after qi does as much as possible to screw over fans. currently with qi you need to spend money to see newer chaps, in china they did something similar just 1 year before the paywall went up. even after the paywall happens i bet you qi releases will remain being in the rss of NU. i personally refuse to read any novel owned by QI regardless of who translates it( apologies for that ren i love WW and all but i dont want the drama that comes from QI in my reading, besides we already see how qi steals novels back that are close to completion GT lost alot of them in one move.) .

 

Let's say he can scan and post the whole contract with signatures and without redactions without consequences (which is not the case).
Then comes the argument "but you could just photoshop those signatures there - also, who knows if that signature is legit". So in this imaginary scenario he then sends you the original, physical copy of the contract for some strange reason, for which you will say "it might be fake, I could print and sign something too".

This will sound like it came right out of a salt mine, but bear with me:
The thing is that it is WW that cannot really afford to misinform us and falsify whatever they can, because if they do that, Qidian will strike at the first opportunity they smell blood - so it is something that might work in short term and at the same time destroys most of the long term prospects. QI can take up any challenge, they are not constrained financially (and even if they lose they have a metric shitton of novels), but WW has a much more limited background. Let's say WW is trying to spread lies and discredit QI (even if they know they cannot win in court and will suffer quite a hit if that is the case). Why isn't QI keen to take this to court? This is damaging their image and unlike WW and their limited budget (compared to QI), they can just go for it at the court any given time, stating that WW and their libelous claims hurt their business and reputation.
So at the end of the day, if you are to believe QI, they have every tool to end this dispute and quite possibly destroy WW, one of their biggest competitors... but strangely enough they do none of the sorts, they avoid any possible legal battle, even though if (hahahaha) they are right, they could deliver quite a lethal hit. Does that sound logical (even by Qidian means)?

Oh, and whoever said that it is WW that needs to prove that they are right: it might be so, but QI could just utterly decimate (or at least seriously injure/hinder) a competitor if their side of the story is true. But they aren't going for it, despite all of their resources. Are they just that nice? I have my doubts about that.

Usually at the end of the contract there is a part that states jurisdiction. We don't know what's there in this case, it could be Hong Kong as well and not just China. (Also, WW is registered in Hong Kong, as far as I know.)

Ps: if any part of my answer is a bit foggy, I am half asleep already... for several days in a row, so at this point mistakes are my specialty. But maybe later I can try to argue in a way that it makes a bit more sense. Or not. Maybe I'm just too optimistic.

 

Parth good to see you too, i wont be arguing this time though. things are too far gone for wasting the energy lol

 

+1 to you good sir. If someone wants to argue about hypotheticals, they'll always find a point to argue about. If one angle cant be argued, they'll find another. Certainly, to the average NUF reader they're more likely to believe RWX as RWX has much more to lose and less to work with.

There will always be someone arguing the 'It could just be something you made by yourself' point. Just ignore them if all they can do is quibble about hypotheticals and not provide reasoned arguments.

 

In case you haven't noticed, nu has been slowly changing their policy to acommodate qidian's way.

Neutrality. Lol.

 

@Parth37955 Thanks for the link.

Back to my point of question. Unless the 50 chapter rule is a recent addition (is it?) and thus has triggered the last exception, then the QI links for HJC would be in violation of the policy.

Clarification is always good.

 

of course their in violation of the 50 chapter rule but a revision will likely be made to allow qi to continue, afterall qi has done more to harm fans then help them but i was under the impression NU was built to be a haven for fans of novels. since Qi has shown up though its seemed more a haven for Qi starting drama and instead has given them more power in the community.

 

Like I said I do not give two hoots who is in the right anymore.

I was just pointing out for all these people ranting about finally getting conclusive proof about how bad QI is that there was nothing to actually show that it is the real contract.

 

O

It was something added some time ago. Possibly 2016/2017. What has recently changed is the possibility to have adwalled chapters added and some clarifications towards "50 releases"

 

which the addition only helped QI add releases not hindered them at all, even when they were screwing over other translators with said releases.

 

LOL why would it be a haven for novel fans ???

It is a site whose purpose is to make it easier for people to locate translated Asian novels nothing else !!

 

thats a very different explanation then what others among staff would claim NU is. though if your idea of it is the main basis would explain why there are rivals popping up to do the same with less drama involved

 

It is a site created by fans of Asian novels for fans of Asian novels, as a hobby, not a business. Tony and the rest of the staff work way too hard to preserve this community for this not to be something that is important to them.

 

thats why it somewhat irks me so much support and adjustment to the rules are done for a group aka QI that seems to only consider fans to be sheep to make money off of regardless of how bad the quality of the work they release is, revisions to rules have been done so much since QI came out that only allowed them to get away with so much more. hell in the past ive argued with parth about being neutral doesnt mean the absence of action.

the absence of action is being lazy and thats all. being neutral is not taking sides but that does not mean not acting to preserve your own neutrality. Qi has used this site in such a way it should be embarrassing for NU. through the act of inaction QI gained power from here. 90% of their readers are from NU, and unfortunately as sad as it is to have to say those readers only embolden QI to do the acts they do becuase they want more money above all else, even if it means causing constant issues with other translation groups.