Discussion Multiple translators for one novel

Recently, my group spent over a month contacting the previous translators of a series for them to give us permission to continue translating the novel they have dropped as the author had explicitly given them permission. Due to various reasons, negotiations took over a month but we finally got the author's permission transferred over to our group. However, a day before we planned to release the chapters, we discovered another tl had been uploading a couple of chapters. After discussion, we've decided to merge.

Today, some of my readers informed me that the novel was being translated by another group (with only one chapter available and exactly where I left off yesterday). My question is, what should we do.

In the case where the author has explicitly stated her wishes that she only allows her free chapters to be translated, do we have the right to ask them to cease their translations immediately(they only have one chapter currently), knowing that they do not have the author's permission and have every intention to exploit and translate chapters past the unlocked chapters?

Also, does this warrant an email to NU admin, will they entertain me if I ask them not to show the group's release for only that particular novel?

My translators have worked very hard over a month in order to obtain the permission, and there was even an announcement stating that we were obtaining permission, and will be taking over the translation.

 

if you have the author's permission, that's cool. you can try ask that group to take down their chapter or better yet, working together to release chapters (but there's a possibility that there will be inconsistencies).

As far as I know, you can't send cease and desist by using only verbal/written permission from the author but someone can correct me if im wrong.

 

Tsk, is this BL novel?

 

Just ask them to take it down. Usually translators (good one) care about it

 

just DMCA them.... if you have author permission,

 

It's not really that I have permission. But the group that has it has agreed to transfer all permission over to us. So I guess that can count?
Sorry, what's DMCA

hurhur yes

we're trying to get in touch with them, but they're kinda like a sorta-large (growing site like QI) although definitely not on that scale yet. Unsure if they will respond as it is simply a platform for multiple translators.

 

And later people complain about Qidian. That's is the truth, while complains about using the State to force people, they love use the State to force people. In this case is simple, both are translating the same novel, some time someone will stop or will seek for colaboration to translate together. I hope that you are being sarcastic.

 

Which novel is it?

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act

Basically to take down your enemies

 

PEOPLE care about this, translating the same thing is a work loss.

 

man that was a lot of extra info that didn't have to go in there. basically what you're saying is you have permission to translate but another group, who doesn't have permission, posted before you.

should their stuff be taken down?

just ask them to take it down if it offends you. it doesn't look like you chatted with them, though you've chatted with the other groups. or really better yet you can just dcma since you are a representative of the author with exclusive rights to translate in English.

 

You are wrong, it's not bascially, the only purpose is take down your enemies.

 

I don't really want to resort to legal action since it will complicate things and we're only planning to translate up to the author's free chapters. We are in the midst of contacting them, but it looks like it will be hard to get in touch. Frankly, it's alot more trouble than it's worth, many of us just want to give up but my translators who have worked tirelessly over a few months will feel regretful if we give up here. So I was just wondering if NU admin will be of help in this case

 

If you are going to be transferred the author's permission to translate, and you can prove it legitimately, then contacting Tony would probably be a smart move. What Tony may say is up to him but it never hurts to try

 

@runsing @marine1corps
If thisTL really does have the author permission and the proof, I think NU should consider them to be the official translator in spite of the less time NU considers them to have released chapters.

 

well just ask @Tony , and don't forget to mention my name to him ,

 

yup, it's fine, like JNC group said, we will destroy them with speed and quality translation

 

First of all, I wouldn't expect much from trying to contact that new translation group. They aren't a translation group in the normal sense - they're a Chinese startup which also operates an aggregator site.

As for the matter of legality, while you may be morally in the right: contacting the original translation group and only translating free chapters etc, legally you're unlikely to be in a position any stronger than the new group. I'm assuming the first group only had informal permission from the author, not some kind of contracted transferable license which they could pass on at will. And that informal permission probably didn't have any legal standing in the first place, since the publishing sites themselves typically own the novels, not the authors.

If you can outpace the new group then you should just carry on, ignoring them. Or drop the novel unfortunately.