Cultural consumer and copyright: A case study of anime fansubbing

ABSTRACT

This article aims at discussing copyright and its infringement from the consumers' perspective by examining ‘anime fansubbing’. Anime fansubbing refers to the practice in which avid anime (Japanese animation) fans copy anime, translate Japanese to another language, and subtitle and release a subtitled version on the Internet to share it with other fans, without permission from the copyright holder. The case study of English fansubbing of anime shows that this activity has been guided by fansubbers’ own ethics that intend to support the US anime industry by respecting US publishers’ licences and self-controlling fansubbed anime. However, the existing ethics have been increasingly challenged under the advancement of digital fansubbing and the rise of peer-to-peer distribution. The case study finds that the idea of copyright is contingent upon and open to cultural consumers’ own understanding and interpretation.

KEYWORDS:

• anime
• animation
• fansubbing
• copyright infringement
• consumer ethics
• cultural consumption