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Otakon |
| U.S. Anime Industry
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| 2004 |
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 In
2004, there's been a growing tide of anime industry talk against
fansubbing, saying that distribution of fansubs over the Internet has
led to damaging piracy in Asia. At Otakon, leaders of the U.S. anime
industry had some stern warnings about coming action against
fansubbers. "Do you worry about how heroin dealers feel," said Matt
Greenfield of ADV Films in response to a question about the way
fansubbers might react to legal moves against them. "Everyone of us
works with Japanese companies, and the Japanese companies are pushing
us hard to crack down on the fansubbers. Within the next couple of
months, you're going to see some fansubbers hit hard... it's ugly."
Greenfield, who appeared with representatives from Viz, Funimation and
The Right Stuff, said that fansubs have wiped out a third of the anime
market worldwide, and he noted that the lost sales have come in Asia.
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 "Fansubbing,
when it started, was self limiting. It was done through VHS and you can
not make a perfect copy, but you can rip a DVD and make a perfect
copy. I've talked to the Japanese producers and they say the
American fans are pretty good about it. Others aren't." Fansubs
downloaded from the Internet have been copied to DVD's and sold in
Asia, all but eliminating Asian sales of those shows, said Greenfield.
In response to that piracy, Greenfield said Japanese companies are
going to start suing some fansubbers. The leading edge of that movement
was seen at Anime Expo when Band filed civil suits against five
businesses accused to selling bootlegs, and Greenfield said there will
be more, similar suits. If Greenfield prediction is true, it could be
something much like 1999's actions by Nintendo against the printers of
counterfeit Pokemon merchandise, which led U.S. Customs raids in which
truckloads of material were seized.
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 Why
would Japanese companies make those moved in 2004? Because sales in the
U.S. and Europe have increased, while Asian sales and profits have
disappeared at the same time. Greenfield said the anime industry in the
U.S. handles around $1 billion in annual sales, And the difference with
these predicted legal moves is that they would be pushed by the
Japanese originators of anime and not by the independent American
importers. "In Japan, they're trying to set up a process where anything
that goes on the Internet will be handled by the Japanese themselves.
They're the rights holders, they have no restrictions at all."
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