Translating copyrighted materials illegally is big business, with the Japanese Government claiming that unauthorised distribution of Japanese manga, anime, and games has led to losses of over US$35billion.
According to a recent article on Anime News Network, police from five different Japanese territories arrested five Chinese nationals for possession of translated dialogue from Japanese manga and games into Chinese and unauthorised distribution.
The police suggest that at least two of the five suspects have admitted the charges. Both are female and aged 24 and 25, and are students based at Nagoya and Oberlin Universities.
The students are allegedly part of a translating group that translates online materials, manga and anime from Japanese to Chinese.
This group is composed of online volunteers who translate resources for distribution, and were recruited via online boards and venues then assigned either to translation or distribution.
The two female suspects were responsible for translation, not distribution, and allegedly posted their translated work onto the social media site Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter) where the work could then be downloaded and viewed.
These are the first publicised arrests for the translating group, with four of the suspects still cooperating voluntarily with the police investigation that could see them charged with copyright infringement.
The police claim that the translation group translated Japanese anime, manga, magazines and games for distribution on public Chinese sites from January 2015 to January 2018. The translated materials include Karuho Shiina‘s Kimi ni Todoke – From Me to You manga.
It is alleged that the translation group members have collectively translated over 15,000 manga items illegally, and the police investigation is considering whether the two female suspects mentioned above have been involved with other prohibited translations.
The Association of Copyright for Computer Software suggests that the suspects could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted, or up to US$90,000 in fines, or both.
All suspects could face civil lawsuits with additional charges for damages.
