[goldenband]

It's not clear who owns an unauthorized (i.e. fan) translation.

http://librarycopyright.net/forum/view/804

Does the fan translator own it? Or the owner of the original work? Or nobody at all?

Can the owner of the original work -- of which the translation is a derivative work -- do absolutely anything they want with the unauthorized translation? Or do they merely have the right to stop the distribution of the unauthorized translation, but not the right to use that translation themselves?

I don't know of any case law that establishes a firm precedent on this.

[Mewster]

I found this, too

https://bookwormtranslations.com/copyright-law-and-translation-what-you-need-to-know/

"Translation is typically considered a derivative work. While this varies from country to country, translation is considered derivative because it exists in relation to an original work, in this case a work of literature such as a novel or poem.

Even though it is derivative, translations are eligible for copyright as an original work. Since a translation, especially literary translation, involves considerable creative effort, labour and skill on the part of the translator it can be registered as an original work.

However, it is crucial to have permission from the author, company, or individual that owns the copyright of the work you are translating. This usually comes in the form of a contract with a publisher, in which the duties of each party are laid out. This is also where a translator may sign away, or fight for, their right to copyright their translation and to royalties."

[Special]

Looks like someone already did.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/9o4bno/rumor_square_enix_stole_an_italian_fan/

[FAST6191]

It's not clear who owns an unauthorized (i.e. fan) translation.

http://librarycopyright.net/forum/view/804

Does the fan translator own it? Or the owner of the original work? Or nobody at all?

Can the owner of the original work -- of which the translation is a derivative work -- do absolutely anything they want with the unauthorized translation? Or do they merely have the right to stop the distribution of the unauthorized translation, but not the right to use that translation themselves?

I don't know of any case law that establishes a firm precedent on this.

Leaving aside legal technicalities I can't see a path for them to unilaterally declare the former-- you would pretty much have to go to civil/IP court and have it rendered in your ownership. Italian civil courts and specifics of Italian copyright law is truly not my thing but I doubt they are going to get the local equivalent of an Anton Piller order (503A in the US I believe being broadly similar) or a judge to straight assign based solely on expert testimony* (and maybe a claim that they could not find the... "infringers", or maybe some kind of John Doe/unnamed parties case, something you can see in some places for piracy -- several of the infamous torrent payment demand letters some years back used a variation on this).

*the subject of this thread I would expect to need to be thrashed out in a proper legal case, a translation from one language to another is a more clear cut affair, even without a readme/release notes saying what it is.

[Bregalad]

If this is true, it's really incredible. They said pircay should be eliminated blah blah, and then they sell fan translations without even informing the author. WTF !

Perhaps someday they'll use the proper MIDI rips I've done of FF4-5-6 instead of the crap they used in their remakes. If they do so I'd be thankful even if they steal everything without credit.

[Gemini]

If this is true, it's really incredible.

It is true indeed. While they fixed some awkward grammar here and there and came up with translations for "Noise" and "Reaper", most of the translation is still there, copied quite literally. There's really no way one could come with such identical phrasing when it comes to Italian, unless you're dealing with set phrases, but I doubt the whole game was made entirely of those. Hell, they even copied a literal translation of Spicy Tuna Roll, which exposes them with no further need of evidence.

[Jorpho]

I reckon the best case scenario is that they subcontracted the translation to some other outfit that decided to cut corners.

I am reminded of when some unscrupulous outfit decided to use ScummVM for the release of the Humongous Entertainment games on the Wii – though since ScummVM is clearly released under the GPL, the legal case was likewise clear.