Post by smith on Oct 11, 2015 13:24:52 GMT 9
Currently, in Japan at least, copyright law dictates that the work of an author falls into the public domain 50 years from their death. This is how sites like Aozora Bunko exist.
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, which is ostensibly a free trade agreement, will change all this. Under the agreement, Japan (and all other countries in the agreement) will be forced to extend the period from 50 years to 70 (or possibly 75) years from the death of the author. Not only will this render a huge chunk of Aozora Bunko unusable, but it may make existing translations retroactively break copyright law. It's a bizarre situation to say the least.
While the agreement has been formalized, it has quite been 100% put into action, so unless something really drastic happens some time soon, we as translators will just have to put up with it.
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, which is ostensibly a free trade agreement, will change all this. Under the agreement, Japan (and all other countries in the agreement) will be forced to extend the period from 50 years to 70 (or possibly 75) years from the death of the author. Not only will this render a huge chunk of Aozora Bunko unusable, but it may make existing translations retroactively break copyright law. It's a bizarre situation to say the least.
While the agreement has been formalized, it has quite been 100% put into action, so unless something really drastic happens some time soon, we as translators will just have to put up with it.