Dealing With Copyrights

[Fade]

Trying to solve a dilemma and these forums made sense as a place to ask a question, so here I am.

I'm trying to get ahold of a large quantity of Naruto episodes. (please keep reading despite this)

On the one hand, I don't like filesharing large quantities of intellectual property, as I respect the work people do to produce good quality flicks/music/etc, and would rather not be contributing to screwing them out of a job by stealing their work.

On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to have to spend on the order of multiple hundreds of dollars to see a series I can get for free over the internet through fansubs, some of which I can even rent from Netflix on the contingency that I watch the horrible dubbed and cut version, which I have no interest in going out of my way to do.

I'd like to find some kind of a rental service, but they all* seem to show only a few of the "real" episodes, followed by many hack n' slashed, followed by a gigantic empty space until the rest of the episodes are imported.

Are there any solutions?

Thanks in advance.


* By all, I mean animetakeout, rentanime, netflix and blockbuster. If there are other better options, it'd be great to know about them.

[Kaligraphic]

Wait about five-ten years after the series finishes, and buy the collector's edition on the cheap.

[jon_jinn]

i'm actually having the same sort of problem. but my friends don't think it's stealing and they don't think it's wrong. i'm having a little trouble trying to convince them...

[Lady Macbeth]

Kaligraphic's got your answer. The protections inherent in copyright law provide for the owners of the copyright to receive fair compensation for use of and/or ownership of copies of their material.

If they feel that "fair compensation" is $30 for a DVD and $10-$15 for a manga, that's what you're stuck paying - until such time as the retailers realize that no one's going to pay that anymore and package it into box sets, then continue to drop the price in hopes of squeezing money out of every last anime fan who exists.

It's unfortunate for the working class stiff, but the economy of this country has never made it easy for the working class to own anything.

[MasterDias]

Trying to solve a dilemma and these forums made sense as a place to ask a question, so here I am.

I'm trying to get ahold of a large quantity of Naruto episodes. (please keep reading despite this)

On the one hand, I don't like filesharing large quantities of intellectual property, as I respect the work people do to produce good quality flicks/music/etc, and would rather not be contributing to screwing them out of a job by stealing their work.

On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to have to spend on the order of multiple hundreds of dollars to see a series I can get for free over the internet through fansubs, some of which I can even rent from Netflix on the contingency that I watch the horrible dubbed and cut version, which I have no interest in going out of my way to do.

I'd like to find some kind of a rental service, but they all* seem to show only a few of the "real" episodes, followed by many hack n' slashed, followed by a gigantic empty space until the rest of the episodes are imported.

Are there any solutions?

Thanks in advance.


* By all, I mean animetakeout, rentanime, netflix and blockbuster. If there are other better options, it'd be great to know about them.

Naruto wasn't cut very much for the TV broadcast, especially compared to certain other popular shonen series. It was only edited to the barest minimum of what they could get away with on Toonami and for recent episodes they have even started playing the original opening.

The Naruto Uncut collections are probably your best bet I think. They are quite cheap compared to most other anime series and contain both an uncut dub and uncut sub. But since it's considered a boxset, I doubt rental places would carry it. So, if you really aren't satisfied with this, the only other thing I could suggest is to find a friend to borrow it off of...

[Mithrandir]

Are there any solutions?

I think this came up before. Last time, I think I made the following recommendation:

1. Get a group of 4 or 5 friends who are really into anime.
2. Each member buy one series.
3. Have fun get-together nights at each others' house and watch a series.

This gets you anime, closer friends, and fellowship to boot! It also get's you 4 or 5 series for the price of 1 - a GREAT deal!

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I think this came up before. Last time, I think I made the following recommendation:

1. Get a group of 4 or 5 friends who are really into anime.

>_> I can't even pass step 1.

Jokes aside, I do believe there are instances where such a thing is true. I for one don't have too many anime-loving friends.

[Mithrandir]

I never said it was a solution for EVERYONE, I'm just offering one.

[termyt]

On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to have to spend on the order of multiple hundreds of dollars to see a series I can get for free over the internet through fansubs, some of which I can even rent from Netflix on the contingency that I watch the horrible dubbed and cut version, which I have no interest in going out of my way to do.

Often very difficult to do the right thing, no?

You cam also attempt to start an anime club through school (if you are in school ) or your local public library. Many libraries will give you access to a room and even a video projector (or at least a TV) at no cost. There are sure to be some anime fans around you somewhere. The downside of this is showing material licensed for release in the US. Public viewings are a violation of copyright law unless you have permission. Many US distributors will give you permission though, as long as the viewing is open to the public and you are not charging admission.

I’m not sure that get’s you to watching uncut Naruto, but perhaps a member will have it.

[The Doctor]

IF you are serious, go on EBAY and buy the Naruto episodes that are sold from China.

It's not illegal for you to buy them, and you can get a ton of anime episodes on the cheap.
In return, however, if the episodes aren't dubbed in English, you're going to get the worst quality subtitles ever.

Be aware, however, that while buying the episodes are not illegal, the reason why China is selling them for so cheap is because they're doing it the unethical way.

As everyone knows, there are no copyright laws in China, so as a result a company like Microsoft can introduce Windows there, and someone else can literally steal the software and sell it for dirt cheap and there's precious little that can be done about it. Likewise, China steals a whole ton of anime from Japan and sells it on the cheap, making Tokyo very very angry, but again very little can be done about it and Japan doesn't have the military power to force China's government to do anything and the U.S. could honestly care less (as we should. Anime's great, but it's not worth dying over).

Now, if someone else has more info on this, feel free to let me know.

[Fish and Chips]

Actually, I think the best solution here would be to invest in a less economically crippling (a.k.a. shorter) show. Naruto's 200+ episodes long, 86 of which seem to be universally spat upon for being filler. If finances are an issue, I'd suggest you look for some "smaller" series.

Mithrandir's got the right idea, though. I've got a couple of friends amongst whom we share Anime, and it's a nice, healthy system. Of course, none of us are stuck with your particular moral dilemma, as none of us like Naruto.

[Kaligraphic]

Actually, there are copyright laws in China, and the Chinese government is getting a bit harder on copiers, but they've historically not enforced those laws with much vigor. Also, you run the risk inherent with all bootlegs - the quality may be pretty good, or it may be broadcast tv quality from a location that doesn't get clear signal badly encoded and passed on to you with no quality control. Yeah, many bootleggers just don't care. (and even if they're copying from legit DVDs, if they're re-encoding, well, it may not be pretty.)

[termyt]

It's actually Taiwan (which is also called China, of course) that refuses to accept international copyright laws.

[beau99]

^ Actually, bootlegging is punishable by death in Taiwan.

[MasterDias]

^ Actually, bootlegging is punishable by death in Taiwan.

Do you have a source for this? That would strike me as ridiculously strict.

[Fish and Chips]

Do you have a source for this? That would strike me as ridiculously strict.

Maybe if he'd said Singapore...

[beau99]

Do you have a source for this? That would strike me as ridiculously strict.

They don't usually carry out the sentence, but it is a legal punishment.

[jon_jinn]

They don't usually carry out the sentence, but it is a legal punishment.

it's probably an empty threat to prevent people from doing that sort of crime; though i'm not an expert on those types of things...

[termyt]

Taiwan's current law is not up to international standards. It recognizes the rights of the copyright holder to produce and distribute material, but it also makes it (un)clear that redistribution of said material is not regulated as long as the original copy was obtained legally.
Source: Ladas & Parry, LLP


To be complete, though, Taiwan, not surprisingly, has been under tremendous pressure to reform it's copyright laws.
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