ANN reports that Libre Publishing is sending cease-and-desist letters to scanlators. In particular, Libre’s official statement is that “protecting the authors’ rights goes hand-in-hand with producing their works,” both in Japan and abroad.
Frankly, I’m curious about the coming reactions abroad. After all, fans have claimed for years that Japan didn’t mind their translations, and would gladly cease their work if the Japanese expressed dissatisfaction with the distributions. Well, Japan has reacted. Several times, in fact. And each time, the reaction’s grown more and more virulent and selfish.
It’s definitley good to see that some of the groups are complying and removing their translations from the web. However, I am a bit curious now. Will we see another outcry from the subculture, or will we begin to start seeing an understanding that the “grey area” is becoming more and more black by the day, at this point? I’m leaning toward a mix of both – some people will get it, but we’ll still hear tons of people whining about the “big bad industry” that their free fix has been cut off. The latter group will be obnoxious and childish, as expected. But hey, that makes these situations fun to watch.
After all – what is property protection without a little vitriol and drama?