You might have seen subtitles while watching a number of movies and series. They are mainly used to enable people, mainly from some other linguistic regions, to understand what is being shown on the screen. But are these subtitles legal or illegal?
Where to get subtitles?
There are a number of sites like opensubtitles.org etc. that offer their services to the producers of various movies and series who want to give subtitles in their project. They offer these captions for movies and TV series in various languages. You can get them fast and easily just with a click of your mouse.
Ensuring the legality of subtitles
When it comes to determine the legal position of the subtitles offered by the sites like opensubtitles.org etc. it is normally said that the downloadable files offered by them are not illegal as they offer only those files that are believed to be redistributed freely.
But in most of the countries in First World these files become illegal while using them to create subtitles for the commercial TV series as well as movies along with publishing them. Still a number of producers are using the services of such sites depending upon the format of the file as well as the license or agreement of the site offering such services.
When it is legal to make subtitles for a movie or series?
According to copyright laws in US, it is not legal to create, share and use subtitles for a commercial movie. It will be considered as infringement of copyright. It is clearly mentioned in the US code 17.
According to sub-section 102(a) of 17 US code the movies in original are copyrighted as in tangible form they can be fixed.
On the other hand, according to sub-section 106(2), the owner of a copyright has the right to prepare subtitles exclusively or authorize someone else to prepare the derivative works on his copyrighted product.
The derivative works have been defined in the sub-section 101 of 17 US code as the work that is done on the basis of one or more works already existing. These works may include musical arrangements, translations, fictionalization, dramatization, sound recording, version of motion picture, abridgment, art production, or condensation etc. Any of these works can be transformed, adapted or re-casted legally.
So, on the basis of these sub-sections of 17 US code the copyright law of US has established that the holder of copyright has right to authorize anyone exclusively to create translations but that right is also limited to be used fairly.
The examples provided in the sub-section 107 of 17 U.S. Code can make the things a bit easier to understand. According to these examples comment, criticism, teaching, news reporting, research and scholarship on subtitles of a commercial movie or series is legal.
But if the files of these subtitles are not used for the purposes stated above then their creation, translation, using and sharing will be considered as the infringement of copyright law instead of its fair use. In fact, such things can be done only by the owner of the copyright of a movie or TV series.
The fairness of the purpose of creating, using and sharing the files of subtitles will be assessed on the factors provided in sub-section 107 of 17 US code even if these files are used for any of the fair purposes stated above. According to this sub-section:
Whether the character and purpose of using subtitle files is for the purpose of non-profit educational program or movie or for commercial movie or TV seriesThe nature of work under copyright lawThe relatively considerable amount of the part of the copyrighted work used as a wholeThe effect of using the copyrighted work on its value as well as the market of that work
Thus while using subtitles offered by the sites like opensubtitles.org etc. the producers of the commercial movies or TV series should consider the US laws of copyright to ensure the legal position of the captions available to them. They can avoid conviction under copyright act by following the tips provide in this write-up. The commercial movies and TV series are copyrighted works which have to follow the US copyright laws while creating and using subtitles for their work.