QI contract

WW is first CN translating website. It was started by Ren. The Qidian had no idea of starting their own translating platform. They were ok with their own in China. But WW made them feel threat. Qidian was limited in China while WW has viewers al over the world . WW is growing very fast so qidian officials just pissed out of fear and decided to make QI so that they can rule in webnovel community all over the world.

 

Exactly!

It took me many trips on many forums to finally find a post that can shed light on the contract in a legal way. As I have studied the law, I realised the consequences in an instant. But there were surprisingly many people who had no clue, how this contract was any different from the rest.

 

i don't know where you got your facts from but i can tell you i'm almost 1000% positive WuxiaWorld was not the first website to translate and host light novels, in fact going to waybackmachine you'll find that WW as it's known today started in 2015, whereas websites like Japtem.com were already popular and operational from 2013, and that's just one example. WW did exist in 2002-04, but it wasn't a translation website at the time, simply a hub for enthusiasts of what was then relatively unknown Wuxia novels.

make sure you know what you're talking bout boi.

 

I'm so sad for translators and editor's who are suffering from qidian contracts. They can't express their own views.

 

⁣

 

bruh did you really take the time to format all that
you should work for a firm creating legal documents 100% real

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Translatio...ian_contract_such_a_big_exploitation_as_said/

 

my avatar says it all

 

This is getting weirder everyday I miss the olday days of this community

 

EXACTLY

MY GOD, you are very concise and very straight to the core of problem.

THANK YOU for enlightening us all.

 

I'm quoting you for a save because this is exactly what I thought when I read the contract.

Also, people don't understand that some words in the contract are not purposefully there to confuse anyone. They have to make it clear cut so people can understand what the contract is saying (even then it is confusing for people because it is literally a wall of text). As a soon to be real estate agent who will use promulgated contracts that are legally binding.. You have to read each and every single sentence in those contracts and understand them to a T because if you don't.. It can turn around and bite you hard.

 

Welp good ol' China.

 

You should make a new thread with this so that others, most especially the translators, can see.

 

⁣

 

This is why I love pirates.

 

dunno if this got answered already, but is that legal?

 

I just wanted to add something out of personal experience on this.
On my contract as a an independent consultant for a software company, I had a standard non-disparagement clause. But the differences between mine and this not so standard one are :
1- Mine had a mutual non-disparagement clause.
2- There was an exception for compelled truthful statement ( e.g : If I had to testify against them in court.)
3- Another exception for legal proceedings, in the case I had to file legitimate but potentially disparaging claims against said company.
4- The clause is void if either party is caught doing an illegal activity. (As to avoid civil charges in case of a whistle blower)

The way I see it, you have every right to want to protect your reputation, especially when there is potential bad blood between the two parties (for when an employee is discharged). But the ultimate goal of a contract is to protect both parties involved and not a list of demands.
While it's true that an employee does not stand on equal footing with a big company, it's the duty of a conscient company to make it appear so. (especially if said company doesn't forget to remind us on every turn how it cares about it's translators/editors).

But sadly it's clear this isn't the case with QI (Assuming this is the legitimate contract drafted by them ofc). And if any translator is considering signing this, please try to imagine this scenario:
Your manager or +1 or supervisor (or whatever he's called in QI) wakes up pissed off (maybe his wife didn't blow him the previous night) and he decides to take it up on you by firing you without any reason/notice whatsoever. You decide to argue with him but he's not having any of that, in fact, that makes him even more angry, and in his public statement he says that you were discharged because you were caught having sex with your sister(or any random statement that can ruin your reputation), and QI doesn't want to be affiliated with people like you. You might think, well... that's obviously a lie, and I need to sue them for defamation. But sadly you can't, since by doing so you're saying that a representative of QI is lying about you, which is a disparaging statement. So you try to defend yourself online saying that's not true ... again ... you can't discredit any statement made by them without risking a lawsuit for breaching the contract.
And you're left with no rights to your translated work, adding to that your reputation is f*cked up with no means to remedy it.

So, while this is an absurd scenario that is unlikely to happen, the fact that the contract CAN allow it to happen is disturbing. And I personally would never sign such a piece of sh*t, especially for a measly 30~60$ a chapter, and I find it insulting that some people would argue that what QI is doing is fair.

 

Just a question, aren't translations considered works of the translator? In other words, the Translations are considered as separate works from the original and the Translator is deemed as the author of the Translation. Just want to clarify some things.

 

Translations belong to the translator. So someone cannot use it. However, as the source material is owned by a copyright holder (publisher or author), the copyright of any derivations of the work typically belongs to them. They can't claim the translations for themselves because it's the translator's. So the translator can be sued or DMCA-ed for his translations because he is not authorized to do so.

 

Alright, thanks.