Legal Uses for Scanlations
19 years ago
Posts: 11
I saw someone talking about editing manga and colorizing it. Am I able to print out the downloads for therapeutic coloring?
Thanks,
Conidiophore

19 years ago
Posts: 10862
Basically, scanlations aren't legal. Period. End of question.
But then...who cares? Just print it out if you really want to. It's not like someone will come by your house and arrest you...
A just ruler amongst tyrants
19 years ago
Posts: 11
Whoops! 😲 Okay. Thanks for the information.

19 years ago
Posts: 157
Just a question: Isn't a scanlated manga legal in countries where this manga hasn't been licensed by a company or so?

19 years ago
Posts: 555
No. It's illegal even if it isn't available in your country.

19 years ago
Posts: 15
I saw someone talking about editing manga and colorizing it. Am I able to print out the downloads for therapeutic coloring?
Thanks,
Conidiophore
Actually, if it's for your own personal use/pleasure (i.e., you're the one coloring it, you'll be the only one viewing it, and you won't be displaying it for public view or selling it for profit...), then it would most likely be deemed a "fair use" and therefore legal.
Note: The courts usually apply a 5-part test to determine whether a use of copyrighted work is okay or not so there's no hard and fast rule but assuming by "therapeutic coloring" you're doing it for your own enjoyment, it should be okay... Under the same 5-part test, scanlating and distribution of the scanlated manga fails the test because of the impact it would have on the market for the actual manga and thus would be deemed illegal.
18 years ago
Posts: 2
I disagree. Under the interpretation of fair use given in the Betamax trial there is a solid defense for unlicensed scantilations. Since there is not market or licensing scheme for unlicensed/translated manga in the US, there is a strong case for fair use.
Licensed mangas, however, would fail the test.
Actually, according to international copyright laws, scanlations, liscensed or not, are illegal.
Most people just really don't care about it if its not liscensed in another country, mostly because the manga is being printed, for example, to be released in Japan. They're not gonna worry if its scanlated because its being released for the Japanese audience, so they're still making their money on it.
If, or when, it becomes liscensed in America, then the scanlation is taking the money away from the legal purchase, so thats when they hold issue with it.
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