Are Import animes illegal?

Hi all,

I'm new to anime and started buying off of amazon and half.com, and have been seeing a trend of 'import' animes, most notably by the brand FX.

Are these illegal? I assumed not if these respectable websites are allowing their sale.

It sure is a lot more affordable buying Neon Genesis Evangelion at half the price.

I also particularly like the imports because they take up less shelf space than these MASSIVE Region 1 sets.

What is the popular consensus on buying the imports? Am I a bad 'Otaku' for buying them? And more importantly, are they illegal for me to buy/resell?

Legitimate imports are usually twice the price of domesticated anime and don't have an English language track, assuming you live in the USA.

Bootlegs are very cheap but tend to have poorer quality. Selling them is technically illegal.

From http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html which is an excellent source of information on how to spot illegal merchandise of all types:

The following companies are all DVD pirates (a selection of their logos can be found further down the page):

* Animation International * Animation Japan International * Anime Cartoon * Anime Cartoon International * Anime Studio * Another DVD Company * Digital International * DVD Ani * fx * Indian International * K * MAC (Manga Anime Cartoon) * Manga International * Video Animation

So fx DVDs should be illegal bootlegs. Half.com is like eBay, anything can show up and they probably don't care what it is. Tons of anime on eBay are illegal copies, so I wouldn't necessarily put Half.com in the 'respectable' category. Amazon is good though and I'm almost completely sure that they themselves do not sell illegal bootlegs. Where on Amazon are you seeing the fx DVDs? Zshops or Marketplace? If so, then they're being sold by individuals, not Amazon, and are probably bootlegs. Amazon.com itself should only be selling legal DVDs, Region 1 most likely. Compare the product information in the Zshops and Marketplace listings to the ones on Amazon itself. Amazon's stuff is legal. If the Zshops and Marketplaces don't have the same thing Amazon does, I think there's a good chance that you're looking at a bootleg.

Yeah, because illegal copiers don't pay any licensing fees or anything.

'MASSIVE'? The 26 episode series are usually 6 or 8 DVDs. Illegal copies usually put them on 3 DVDs (another sign of bootlegs

As others had said, be careful with who you buy from web sites such as Amazon.com, Half.com, or eBay. You may want to avoid buying anime from the following people:

Sellers living in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Singapore, or Indonesia.

I noticed many bootleggers that do business at Amazon.com, etc. live in these countries and I recommend that you do not do business with people from these countries. They may be associated with organized crime.

If you want to buy real import anime, go to places such as CDJapan or AnimeNation (which does have a selection of Region 2 DVDs).

.

But what do you do about anime that has not (and/or may not) be released in legitimate dubs/subs?? I.E. I had never heard of GITSAC until I found in on EBay. I'm assuming that it is not yet if ever available in legal US versions. ^_^

Inu-Yasha Feh!!

That's up to you. The purchasing of illegal copies means that you have no comeback should the copy turn out to be a pile of poo. In such cases, if you insist on doing it, all you can do is choose your supplier and supply very carefully.... ^_^

I don't they're illegal per se, but they are copyright violations. Copyright is largely a civil matter, not a criminal matter. If you sell them, you could be sued. Importing DVDs is not in and of itself

This is an aspect of US copyright law I haven't fully learned. It is legal to import a single copy of a work into the US without the permission of the copyright owner, as long as it is for 'the private use of the importer and not for distribution.' [1] It is also legal to resell a single copy of a copyrighted work, as long as that copy 'was lawfully made under this title [USC Title 17].' [2]

Combining those two laws, it would appear that the legality of reselling an import hinges on the intent of the importer at the time s/he imported his/her copy: if a private citizen buys it for personal use, it's legal. If that person LATER decides s/he doesn't want the copy any more, and puts that single copy up for sale on Ebay, shouldn't that also, therefore, be legal?

Disney has gone after resellers that import large numbers of videos made for sale in foreign markets, when Disney owns the license to sell the works in question in the US. Because the original intent of those importers was to resell their copies, and because they imported more than one copy, their importation fell outside the 'safe harbor' of §602(2).

- dbm (disclaimer: Not A Lawyer)

[1] http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap6.html#602 [2] http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#109

<<snip>>

Daniel Marx makes an important clarification in another post: unauthorized importation appears to be only a *civil* violation, with no possibility of criminal penalties, in the US -
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap6.html#602

§ 602. Infringing importation of copies or phonorecords

(a) Importation into the United States, without the authority of the owner of copyright under this title, of copies or phonorecords of a work that have been acquired outside the United States is an infringement of the exclusive right to distribute copies or phonorecords under section 106, actionable under section 501.

Since § 501 applies only civil penalties - i.e. gives copyright holders various rights to sue - it doesn't appear that importation is 'illegal' in sense that one can be arrested and jailed. But the vague language of § 506 makes it difficult for me to be certain, and so I'll just admit that surfing through the law isn't a substitute for asking a real lawyer -
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#506

§ 506. Criminal offenses5

(a) Criminal Infringement. — Any person who infringes a copyright willfully either —

(1) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or

(2) by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000,

shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, United States Code. For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement.

- dbm

*snrk* 'respectable'...yeah right. Also bloody ignorant...they're QUITE illegal.

And a lot more illegal.

And are unofficial, unlicensed, illegal...

They're illegal period. Buy the legitimate R1 DVDs.

*entirety of original quoted post snipped