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A court in the Netherlands just ruled that making fan subtitles or translations is unprotected by the law. From the article:
A Dutch group called the Free Subtitles Foundation took anti-piracy group BREIN to court over "fansubbing." BREIN has previously been active in taking fan subtitles and translations offline, and the Foundation was hoping a Dutch court would come down on the side of fair use. The court didn't quite see it that way. It ruled that making subtitles without permission from the property owners amounted to copyright infringement. BREIN wasn't unsympathetic, but said it couldn't allow fansubbers to continue doing what they're doing.
Which also means that if the original subtitling is missing or wrong, then you are open to persecution from various copyright monsters if you do something about it. This also negatively impacts the hearing impaired. The laws governing fair use differs between countries. I suspect that virtual bay of high seas ships using flags with full spectrum absorption will be even more popular.
Also:
Unauthorized Subtitles For Movies & TV Shows Are Illegal, Court Rules
Court rules fan subtitles on TV and movies are illegal
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:39AM (1 child)
Can we get a line on exactly why they say they can't "allow fansubbers to continue doing what they're doing". We've heard their arguments as to why pirating the whole movie denies them of potential revenue (which is up for debate, I know). But why the subtitle track? Is it because you can only use a subtitle track on a pirated movie and not while watching it on Netflix or from a DVD? How does making a transcription of the dialogue (and important sounds for hearing impaired) constitute a copyright infringement? Does it not fall under the same category as people playing their own version/cover of a song?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Tuesday April 25 2017, @01:04PM
>Does it not fall under the same category as people playing their own version/cover of a song?
Pretty much. Playing a cover (publicly) is also generally illegal without a license. There's a whole legal racket, at least in the US, that shakes down bars and other music venues for "protection money" in case any musician performing there illegally plays a cover of popular songs without having the proper license. Get caught without having paid up, and the club gets sued as well as the musician.
Basically, as it stands now copyright pretty much denies everyone ALL rights to ANY form of copying. Unless there's a specific exemption in the law for your usage, it's illegal.