Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei novels have been licensed by Yen Press

[ProxyAccount]

There's no substantive legal reason to take summaries down. You can summarize a work without violating copyright.

[fsck]

Originally Posted by chad001

4 years? I certainly hope so, I'm expecting 6-8. Everytime Yen Press licenses a novel I hope the author ends it, if only so I can expect the entire series in English eventually.

can always read it in a different language.

[ProxyAccount]

Originally Posted by Iramohs

They already removed volume 1-13 from the site.

That didn't take long.

[Rava]

Originally Posted by amtro

Can you answer me the following, which I am sure a lot of would like to know?
What about long winded volume summaries, will they get taken down too?

For what it's worth, I've never seen them take down summaries that weren't entire blocks of translated text that people were pretending to call a summary.

[amtro]

Good thing TA's summaries were posted to other forums then, because this one here is whack.

[Rava]

Originally Posted by amtro

Good thing TA's summaries were posted to other forums then, because this one here is whack.

Other forums aren't getting served cease and desist orders to the point where they need to put policies in place to make the C&Ds stop coming. They aren't big enough for corporations to make the effort.

If you're getting presented with legal issues that can cause your website to get yanked from you at any time, you have to do something about it.

[coded321]

this seriously sucks, i just happen to get into this series, and now its already taken down?

[ProxyAccount]

§107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A [17 USC § §106 and 106A], the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include--

(1)

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2)

the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3)

the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4)

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

Short passages used in a review/summary would probably considered as falling under "fair use". A short passage is generally defined as being approximately 100 - 200 words. Given that we're talking about translations of Japanese novels, the measurement is harder to quantify. However, having ~10% or less of total content is generally considered fair use in college and academia in general. So, if there's 300 pages in a novel, you probably shouldn't have translated text for more than a total of 30 pages worth.

In my opinion, True Alchemist's summaries fall well under the limits of "fair use".

If in doubt, consult an attorney specializing in copyright law.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by amtro

Yeah, it only took them five years to catch up with it.

I don't know what you expect -- the publisher to wave a magic wand and have all the books appear on shelves? Publishing doesn't work that way. Even if the translator and editor could work fast enough to churn the books out one per month, Yen still wouldn't put them out that fast. They have multiple series they're publishing, and they don't want to over-saturate the market to the point that fans don't have the time or money to buy everything they're publishing.

[amtro]

It's their pacing I have issues with. Also this comes at the worst possible time with vol 16 just around the corner.

[slavsya]

Originally Posted by amtro

It's their pacing I have issues with. Also this comes at the worst possible time with vol 16 just around the corner.

Totally agree on that one, when the time we are hyped for the next, then the giant hammer falls blocking our way.

[NAJ P. Jackson]

I woke up with a fever AND this news? This is turning into a crappy day

[somerand]

At least we will get volume 14 finished in time. It looks like the licensing made Sashiko decide to post chapter 4/5 of volume 4 instead of waiting for chapter 3 to be completed. Chapter 4 of volume 14 just got put uploaded.

[Abysmalheart]

Finding pdf ver of the old vol's will be easy(atm it is ) but what about future volumes ?

[Abysmalheart]

Originally Posted by somerand

At least we will get volume 14 finished in time. It looks like the licensing made Sashiko decide to post chapter 4/5 of volume 4 instead of waiting for chapter 3 to be completed. Chapter 4 of volume 14 just got put uploaded.

really I only see 3 incomplete.

[Clutchdog]

Isn't this good news? I think a lot of you are being very self-centered here. I guess in an ideal world this would have been announced after the translation of the next arc was finished but one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
This way you'll actually get to support the author in a relevant way and Mahouka will be introduced to a wider audience. I don't actually own any Light novels, and in terms of manga I only have 4 volumes of Dragonball that I bought as a kid but I'll at least buy these as they come out.

[IceHism]

Originally Posted by Clutchdog

Isn't this good news? I think a lot of you are being very self-centered here. I guess in an ideal world this would have been announced after the translation of the next arc was finished but one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
This way you'll actually get to support the author in a relevant way and Mahouka will be introduced to a wider audience. I don't actually own any Light novels, and in terms of manga I only have 4 volumes of Dragonball that I bought as a kid but I'll at least buy these as they come out.

I bought the raw japanese novels solely to support the author already actually(and for that time when i go sit down and learn moon).

[Clutchdog]

So will BT finish volume 14, chapter 3 now that it's licensed? Or is there no point in waiting?

[NAJ P. Jackson]

Originally Posted by somerand

At least we will get volume 14 finished in time. It looks like the licensing made Sashiko decide to post chapter 4/5 of volume 4 instead of waiting for chapter 3 to be completed. Chapter 4 of volume 14 just got put uploaded.

Well that's good news at least. So only chapter 3 is needed to complete volume 14.

[Ultragunner]

^ I agree, but I also get why so many people are (somewhat) upset.

The reason is that when something (especially LN) get licensed in the West, they will start with Vol 1, and it will take a long @ss time to catch up to the recent content. That means everyone around here will have to make do with short spoilers and summaries in the years to come.

If there were a model for LN to get licensed and translated quickly, (something similar to what Crunchyroll is doing with anime and manga perhaps), then I'll gladly give the publisher my money