环球•译事 | 警惕!5中国译员在日本被捕 版权陷阱要注意
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本期为第十期,为你解读做翻译时容易被忽略的版权问题,教你如何规避风险并保护自己的合法权益。
At the start of February, five Chinese nationals were arrested in Japan for translating manga and games. The five suspects were allegedly part of a large translating group that distributes Chinese-translated Japanese media online.
2月初,5名中国公民因翻译漫画和游戏在日本被捕。这五名嫌疑人据称是某大型翻译小组的成员,该小组负责将日本媒体的内容翻译成中文,并在网上传播。
Specifics cited in news reports claim that two of the suspects are a 24-year-old female research student and a 25-year-old female graduate student. They were arrested for translating a manga series and character dialogues for a video game. Japanese police are looking into other translations of copyrighted works the suspects are liable for, as they are part of an online group that has allegedly translated over 15,000 manga items without authorization.
新闻报道中具体提到,其中的两名嫌疑人,一名为24岁的女研究生(译者注:research student在日本指不以修学分为目的,在教授指导下从事研究的学生),另一名为25岁的女研究生。他们因为翻译某系列漫画和某电子游戏中的人物对话而被捕。日本警方正在调查嫌疑人涉嫌对其他版权作品的翻译,被捕人员是某线上组织的成员,据称该组织在未经授权的情况下翻译了超过15,000部漫画作品。
Reports say the suspects face up to 10 years in prison, fines worth up to JPY 10m, or both, as well as the possibility of civil lawsuits and additional levies for damages and, of course, orders to delete files.
报道称,嫌疑人将面临最高10年的监禁、最高1000万日元的罚款(约合人民币57万元),还可能面临民事诉讼和额外赔偿,当然还要删除翻译文档。
According to news reports, a 2013 inquiry by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs found that Japanese manga, anime, and games illegally distributed to online Chinese sites amount to losses of JPY 3.8t.
据新闻报道,日本文化事务署2013年的一项调查发现,在中国网站上非法传播的日本漫画、动漫和游戏造成的损失共计3.8万亿日元(约合人民币2176亿元)。
In November 2015, five people were also arrested in Japan for uploading Japanese manga chapters of ongoing series to online translation groups. They were not directly involved in translation, but rather the pipeline that leads to unauthorized translation distribution.
2015年11月,另有5人曾因将正在连载的系列漫画章节上传到线上翻译小组,而在日本被捕。他们并非直接参与翻译,而是导致了这些未经授权的翻译在网上传播。
▲某漫画汉化组的网站 (图片来源:华夏经纬网 崔峻 摄)
据此,中国驻日本大使馆做如下提醒:
近日,几名在日中国公民因涉嫌违反“著作权法”被捕。中国驻日本大使馆提醒在日中国公民,未获得原作者或版权方授权擅自翻译、发布、传播作品,即使不以盈利为目的,也可能违反日本“著作权法”。此外,利用网络等途径下载或上传盗版电子书籍、音像制品、游戏软件、图片资源等均属非法,请广大在日中国公民了解并遵守日本的相关法律,避免卷入法律纠纷。
那么,在一般情况下,该如何绕开“版权”的雷区?对自己的翻译版权,又该如何维护呢?
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.
译作通常被视为一种演绎作品。各国对此看法不一,不过称译作为衍生品是因为其与原作有关,这里讨论的原作是指小说、诗歌等文学作品。
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.
即便是衍生品,译作也和原作一样享有版权,因为一份译作(尤其是文学翻译)需要译员投入大量创造性工作、劳动和技能,可以视为一种原创作品。
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.
但是,如果你想翻译一部作品,获得作者、公司或版权持有人的许可是至关重要的,一般通过与出版商签订合同的方式来实现,明确各方责任。译者签字转让或争取译作版权与版税也需要通过合同的方式进行。
If the work exists in the public domain then a translation automatically retains copyright as an original work. Generally, the copyright for a work of literature expires 70 years after the author dies. So, if you want to translate Virgil’s Aeneid from the original Latin into Japanese you can do so without worrying about infringing on copyright.
如果作品已不受版权限制,译作就会以原创作品的名义自动享有版权。一般而言,一部文学作品的版权期限为作者去世后70年(译者注:欧盟成员国和美国规定的著作权保护期限为作者有生之年及其死后70年,我国为50年),这样一来,假如你想将古罗马诗人维吉尔的《埃涅伊德》从最初的拉丁文翻译成日文,就不必担心侵犯版权的问题。
So, what should you do about ensuring you keep your rights to copyright and royalties? We have a few suggestions below:
那么,你应该如何确保拥有版权和版税呢?下面我们给出了几点建议:
First, don’t sign away your right to copyright or to being recognized for your translation. This would mean the publisher could exclude your name from the published editions of the book, as if it magically translated itself.
首先,在签署协议时不要漏签版权,或者一定要确保你的翻译得到承认。否则,这就意味着出版商可以从出版的书籍中删去你的名字,就像这本书神奇地自己进行了翻译一样。
Negotiate and push for your right to royalties. It is worth at least asking to receive a portion of the royalties. Typically, a translator can expect to get 1-3% of the royalties. If you don’t think this is much you’re right, but keep in mind that authors may get anywhere from 6-25% depending on the format of the book (hardback, paperback, e-book, etc.) with e-books typically bringing in the highest royalty rate for authors. You can use these facts as negotiating tools – if the author is getting a higher percentage on the e-book, why can’t you get a higher percentage as well? If the publisher or the author refuses, at least you have gained some practice in negotiating for the future.
协商并争取获得版税的权利。至少你可以要求获得一部分版税。通常译员可以获得1-3%的版税。如果你觉得这笔数目太小的话,那就对了,要知道作者可能会获得6-25%的版税,版税多少由书的形式(如精装、平装、电子书等)决定,其中作者从电子书获取的版税率最高。你可以基于这些条件来进行协商——如果作者从这版电子书获取的税率较高,你何尝不能同样拥有更高的版税呢?如果出版商或作者拒绝的话,至少你学到了一些谈判的经验,可能会在将来用到。
Make sure the royalties include worldwide publication. Let’s say you translate a book into English for a U.S. publisher and then that publisher sells the rights to the book in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand and those publishers decide to keep your translation. If your contract is limited to U.S. sales then you are missing out on earning potential in other English speaking countries.
确保版税包含全球发行权。比如你为一家美国出版商英译了一本书,然后这家出版商在英国、澳大利亚、新西兰出售了这本书的版权,而当地的一些出版商买下了你的译本。如果你的合同规定只能在美国出售该译本,那么你就错失了从其他英语国家赚取收入的机会。
Emphasize your commitment to the profession. Translating is not something you do for fun. While you may find translating to be fun and interesting work, you are also a professional and have a vested interest in gaining recognition and proper payment for your work. This might seem obvious, but you never know how the publisher or author is viewing you or your work.
重视你对翻译行业的贡献。翻译不是玩玩而已。你可能会觉得翻译是件很有趣的事,但你同时也是一名专业人员,你的工作有权获得认可,并得到相应的报酬。这看起来可能是天经地义的,但你永远不知道出版商或作者怎样看待你或你的工作。
英文来源:Slator, Bookworm Translations
编译:Yee君
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