Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

“Industry representatives in the Private Recording Subcommittee have previously stated that if content can be totally controlled via digital rights management software (DRM), there would be no need for the Compensation System. On this point Mr. Kawase explains, 'Of course, the subcommittee has developed a general consensus after debating specific (DRM-related) issues. However, the debate moving forward will center on refining that general consensus.'”

Basically, they're trying to figure out whether they can implement some kind of way to provide digital media that guarantees proper compensation to the copyright owners and creators, or if the only way to deal with piracy is to try and prevent it with DRM.

There's also been talk about establishing a Japanese version of a “fair use” principle like that in place in the United States, although apparently it has a lot of opponents in the Subcommittee on Legal Affairs.

So, what would this all mean for anime fans? DRM wouldn't make much difference to fansubbers; they get most of their videos via TV rips, not DVD (at least for speed-subs)-- though that only counts for shows airing on TV. Heavy use of DRM could definitely make it tougher to rip CD releases as well.

That said, DRM has also proven pretty ineffective in the US, as well as unpopular. How do you think it'd go in Japan?

As for fair use-- that could tentatively make parody use of anime for, say, AMVs and the like legitimate. So it'll be interesting to see if that goes through as well.

(Article translated by brand-new Anime Vice intern Eric Andre!)