LogFAQs > #904993625

I've heard it tends to be a grey area. Like if people translate articles in some small country and hosts it without permission, doesn't matter what the content of the article is, it's Fair Use. Also, translating an LN that was previously unreleased or unlicensed in the West can constitute as a spreading of culture or in some cases a gateway as to familiarizing one's self with a foreign language or grammar structure. I've learned from a lot of cases in innocent Youtube vids as well as small time review sites that get hit by big companies that the educational clause in Fair Use is actually really really lax.

(As for the transformative or derivative works, "One of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder is the right to authorize the preparation of derivative works based upon the copyrighted work. 17 U.S.C. 106(2). A derivative work is defined as one based upon one or more preexisting works, such as translation, musical arrangement ... or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted.")

EDIT2: You know what's funny? "Factual works receive less [copyright] protection than fictional works." I guess it's like a "it's just fiction, get over it" approach

But you're right in that Japan's laws are ultimately different, and any legal issues that happen globally tends to be a giant mess that nobody really has clear answers on. But I've heard a lot of people also reach out to the authors personally and just simply get permission, which can be considered a legally binding agreement that can't just be retracted unless a company purchases the publishing rights, in which they pretty much get to say what goes.
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