A website that provided fan subtitle service or fan-made translations of popular Hollywood movies and television shows has been shut down by the police after a recent raid. Swedish authorities investigating a copyright complaint raided two Undertexter properties and confiscated evidentiary materials. The Swedish Police Service National Coordinator of the Intellectual Property Crime Division stated that they tracked the computers to establishments in Helsingborg and Stockholm. Consequently, Undertexter services are now permanently offline and cannot provide on-screen text sharing services to their users anymore.
Under investigation
Swedish Police declared that the investigation is still ongoing. At the early stages of the investigation, forensics personnel will examine the computers and other materials seized from the raid. The authorities will also be holding follow-up interviews. Once proven guilty, concerned Undertexter managers and personnel would be required to pay fines or serve time in jail for up to two years for violation of Swedish copyright laws.
Copyright infringement
According the authorities in Sweden, the country’s copyright law bans people from creating film transcripts from material that are protected by copyright without express permission from the owner. They are not allowed to release said materials in public as well. Undertexter is in clear violation of these clauses.
The raid has been cited by critics as an “escalation” in the efforts to protect intellectual property rights by the movie industry in Hollywood.
Not for profit
The managers of Undertexter maintain their stance that they have not broken any laws whatsoever. The managers of Undertexter said that they intended to continue fighting for the right of the Swedish people to “publish their own interpretation” of television shows and movies. They insisted that they had never asked for payment or any charge for the services provided by their site.
Gaining profit from the work of others
In the meantime, Rights Alliance, the group that presented the complaint to the Swedish authorities, claimed that the incident was not the first of its kind in the European continent. Encouraged by the police raid, they intend to continue with their work. Next on their list is another subtitle service called Swesub.
The Rights Alliance was particularly concerned that Undertexter is gaining profits from infringing on the intellectual property rights of other people. Sara Lindback, the group’s lawyers said that there were many reasons for them to single out the site and complain about their activities. For one, the site has many adverts, which suggest that they are earning from them. In addition, the translations made did not have clearance from the copyright owners. The movies with the on-screen translations are still in cinemas or have not reached Sweden yet.
“Fan-subbing”
Blogger and Sweden’s “Pirate Party” founder Rick Falkvinge said that “fan-subbing” is thriving because fans usually provide better translations and subtitles than professionals, and that the turnaround is much faster. Subtitles for new episodes of TV series or movies usually take six months or more before they become available from the original providers, he added. Fan-made subtitles can be made available in 24 hours. The blogger insisted that passionate fans are making the subtitles not for profit, but because they want to be of service to the industry.
Photo Credit: Example of subtitles in Swedish
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