I'm sorry, could you ask me a question about something that isn't ILLEGAL?

[Kusanagi]

I have a few episodes of FMA that I downloaded. My reasoning - they hadn't gotten that far on Adult Swim and the DVDs hadn't been released yet. So there was no other way for me to get them.

I also have about 50 gigs of just EUROBEAT on my computer. And that is impossible to find in the states as AVEX has announced they have no plans to release any of the SEB titles outside of Japan. All 169 titles to date at easily approaching 50 dollars a CD to import...over eight grand.

I download it if I have no other (reasonable) way to get it.

[TYFSOK]

WTO (world trade org) TRIPS Agreement (which covers the international copyright/trademark issues since 1995) does not demand that distribution of copyrighted material is a criminal offense unless it is done on a commercial scale.

But the Berne Convention does.

(fansub is not done on a commercial scale, however bootlegging usually is.) Once it's license in U.S., then the U.S. copyright laws come into play and not international ones. So like you said, those groups that are still "fansub" series under licensed can be in major trouble.

Even if it isn't licensed in the U.S., the Berne Convention and other international treaties signed by the U.S. and Japan (and many other countries) ensure that works produced outside of the U.S. are still protected under copyright.
*snip*

Anyway, this issue is an mute point. Almost every anime made now are licensed for U.S. even if they never get around to releasing it in the U.S.

SO not true. Trust me on this. As someone living in Japan, I can tell you just from watching TV every now and then, there's a vast amount of crap anime that foreign fans will never hear of, much less see. For example, the Agatha Christie Chronicles (Hercule Poirot and Ms. Marple, with cute animal sidekicks!).

It IS true that a lot of Japanese companies assume that all of their new stuff is automatically going to be scooped up by an American distributor, and thus include "future license fees" into their budgets. This does bad things to their bottom line now that American companies are not in the "let's license EVERYTHING" mode that they used to be.

I'll consider the fansub issue closed, you can have the last word if you wish

Fair enough. My last word:

Like I said before, apart from the unscrupulous groups who ignore licenses, I am not condemning the practice. Were it not for the fact that my computer is five years old, and chokes on trying to play DiVX files, I would have downloaded a number of fansubs myself, if only to better understand what the heck I've been watching on TV.

So, go ahead and download. Enjoy anime, share with friends. Just don't be under the delusion that it's at all legal.