Question Is it legal to translate a series while under negotiation?

I was wondering if it was okay to pick up a series and start working on it while I start talks with the publisher or author.

I ask because I was under the impression that WuxiaWorld had the licenses to Trash Count, but under their site they said it's still [in negotiations].

Source


I would appreciate any helpful answers because I would love to pick up a series without any legal repercussion!

 

You have it backwards, it's illegal to release translations for any series without the copyright holders permission.

It is simply that most of the times it is too much hassle for publishers to pursue these things in other countries and suing fans never worked well so they tolerate it unofficially, decline it officially.

So the whole translating scene has always been a grey zone.

Now when a publisher does pick up a series locally, that publisher might be more willing to pursue people within their country.

So to answer your question, you can in theory.

As for why often times it is taken down when negotiations happen. The answer is pretty simple. If you go to negotiate, the other side will obviously search for who you are. And it goes without saying that you would be at a disadvantage in the negotiation, even more so if you took money for it as they can demand royalties and the like.

 

tecnicaly no....cause a negotiation means they are still deciding if they can license the novels.......but if both parties have already negotiated the license(as allowing translation) but still undecided with price, or other terms they can still translate the novel while negotiating but there is the need of the license holder permission because if they don't reach an agreement they need to take it down....

 

Depends on the holder of the rights, but doing a job on something that is still on negotiations always looks bad.

 

You should also consider that you may not have the money to pay an lawyer, but wuxiaworld may. Wether they would be right or not to attack you in court wouldn't matter if they just want to deter you with financial retribution

 

nothing will happen to you unless you make more than a certain amount of money. not sure how much that is
but basically, if you don't earn more from posting the translation than you would from officially translating it, you are not going to be in any sort of deep trouble

be aware that I don't really know anything and am just talking for the sake of talking.
anyway, this is how I feel it is, though the possible loss seen from the perspective of the original owners is just as important as you making money.

imo, while they might sue you, if they bother to, it would not be hard to come to an agreement that they get your translations for a price a bit lower than market price, making oth of you win.
A scorned fan translator is not something they want to see, as someone commented above

 

In most cases to avoid any type of potential lawsuits especially with officially released LN, the smart ones would call their works fan-fiction. So long as they don't call wat they doing translating but rather their own interpretation on wat the words say in another language it becomes real legal grey area.

Cause so long as there is is no official translation which in ur case from (KR>EN) to compare it to then they cant exactly sue you for something tat doesn't exist. If you are taking money for it and officially passing it on as ur work however, it would be a different story.

 

Curious as to how we could "compare" the money earned from posting translation vs official.

Isn't WuxiaWorld monetizing their translations? Would it not get them into legal trouble?
Unless there were some sort of agreement between the publishers but I assume they would make an announcement like that with what they did for SCoG.

 

as mentioned over time before, translate is ok publish the translation is nay~

btw suing copyright is reaaaaly expensive, the lawyer that is~ and for company most translator is dirt poor so despite success on winning da sue there high chance it can't cover da lawyer fee, let alone money damage stuff lol~ thats why most not bother suing it better just send dcma? kick from google search stuff~ you may win da case but get no money back~

without copyright it illegal, thats it~ unless you can prove it under fair use? but fans translation.... nah illegal~

 

It’d be considered nothing short of illegal and unauthorized if it’s still “under negotiation”. No company would authorize any potential licensee to begin the translation of works until contracts are signed. That’s not how the world works, how companies works, and thinking it otherwise would only be deluding themselves.

From the looks of it, WW’s translations of TCF is illegal. If they don’t have a contract, they’re illegally profiting off the works of the author and publisher, no different than most fan translation groups who uses ad revenue, not that there’s anything wrong with fan translations. But lying is another matter. Sure, they have licenses for other novels but why is it that Overgeared and Trash of the Count’s Family is “under negotiations”? If that was the case, then WW would have done right by the publisher and cease all translations while negotiations are being made. But that’s not the case. Why? A company like WW can wait until they sign the contract to continue the work.

I have a friend whose a corporate lawyer. He laughed, actually. Had to ask him if companies would even allow anyone to work on their IP before official works begun? He said no. He laughed. He laughed hard. In disbelief, too. Companies would never agree to that, he said. Intellectual property attorneys and copyright lawyers or managers in charge of IP, their job is to make sure that all terms and conditions are signed and finalized before any works of any intellectual properties begins. You’re free to ask your local corporate IP lawyers or attorney, too.

I would know, too. I’m involved with works that’s involved with intellectual properties, though I’m just an employee. But I’ve been around long enough to know that companies don’t just give their IP away without a contract.

But if WW can prove that they’re able to translate Overgeared and Count’s Family while under negotiations, props to them. But otherwise, I’m led to believe that it hardly holds any truth.

Now, I was in Korean twitter. Did some digging. Saw that a Korean fan reached out to the Korean author. The author and the publisher said that there are no legal English translation. It has not been “officially authorized for translation to any other language”. You can read more here: https://twitter.com/doji122505/status/1252421938036662273

We’re always free to contact the publisher or the author to confirm if WW really is a negotiation with the publisher.

 

I see a lot of armchair lawyers and businessmen here! Just watch for further announcements, some of which should hopefully be coming within the next week . And yes, feel free to contact the publishers to confirm if negotiations have been in progress.

 

I am a bit scared now on how to proceed.
My original question was asking whether if it was legal to proceed in translating a series while in negotiation.
Given the overwhelming answers on NU, it seems like it's not.
But Maybe NU is wrong? since I assume WW has their own lawyers to consult to.

 

So the real question is whether WW has this permission or not. I still remember what happened with Novel's Extra and other kr novels on their site, so it could be that they don't.

 

until then grab a cake and enjoy