A few questions about Fandubs

[KuroDubs]

I am currently trying to do a fandub for Haikyuu (Anime/Japanese TV show) and Mystic Messanger (Korean Videogame). The fandub is also non profit, however I would like to open a donation box to support the fandub. My questions are: Would putting a donation box up contradict being a non profit fandub? Would this be legal? I would LIKE to make this profitable, how would I go about doing this without facing legal issues? Would I need to buy a streaming license? How would I go about doing so?

 

[quincy]

I am currently trying to do a fandub for Haikyuu (Anime/Japanese TV show) and Mystic Messanger (Korean Videogame). The fandub is also non profit, however I would like to open a donation box to support the fandub. My questions are: Would putting a donation box up contradict being a non profit fandub? Would this be legal? I would LIKE to make this profitable, how would I go about doing this without facing legal issues? Would I need to buy a streaming license? How would I go about doing so?

Are you located in the US, KuroDubs? If so, in what state do you reside? If not, in what country do you reside?

When trying to profit off another's rights-protected material, you generally will require permission from the holder of these rights (be they trademark rights, copyrights, patent rights, or publicity rights).

 

[KuroDubs]

I am located in the New York State.

 

[Zigner]

You need to be sure that you are not improperly holding yourself out to be "non profit" as opposed to "not for profit"

 

[quincy]

I am located in the New York State.

Thank you for providing your state name, KuroDubs.

Under both Japanese copyright laws and US copyright laws, most fandubs will violate the law if they are made without the authorization of the copyright holders. Copyright laws in both countries protect copyrighted works from being reproduced or distributed or displayed/performed by others and both countries give the copyright holder the exclusive right to prepare derivatives (like translations).

To acquire permissions, you would need to contact each of the copyright holders whose work you wish to use and inquire about licensing rights in their works. For the works you are considering, there are many copyright holders (writers, illustrators, publishers, developers ...) and you would need to make sure that you have contacted any and all who hold rights to what you want to use.

There are some uses of copyrighted material that can fall within the US Copyright Act guidelines for "fair use" but rarely would commercial uses of another's works be considered a fair use. In addition, fair use is an affirmative defense to a copyright infringement action and not permission to use copyrighted works. This means that if you are having to defend your use as a fair use, you have probably been sent a settlement demand letter by a copyright holder or you have been sued by a copyright holder. You want to avoid this.

You can have your plans reviewed by an IP attorney in New York. Personal reviews are often necessary to better determine whether a specific use of rights-protected material could be viewed as infringing on anyone else's rights.

Good luck.