Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

[Shrapnel]

From what I remember (and that isn't a whole lot) when I read the Bible for shits n giggles a long time ago, I think that the dude who fucked with Job was referred to simply as a devil or demon. I may be and probably am wrong, though.

[zugschef]

From what I remember (and that isn't a whole lot) when I read the Bible for shits n giggles a long time ago, I think that the dude who fucked with Job was referred to simply as a devil or demon. I may be and probably am wrong, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan

[Shrapnel]

Ye gods, it's even worse that I thought!

[Starmaker]

What's the legal status of unauthorized translations of books under copyright, for which a commercial translation does not exist on the market? Does the translator have any rights to it, or is it up for grabs? What can one do with a copy of the translation in order not to get boned by the copyright authorities?

[Whatever]

Do you mean in the United States, or abroad?

[Starmaker]

Do you mean in the United States, or abroad?

In the United States, mostly. I want to translate an Italian book to English. There's already an atrocious animated adaptation of said book, but no straight-up English translation.

[Koumei]

Well, Satanists are only evil Christians neh?

I'm pretty sure that Christians are evil Christians.

Which would be a bolder, more controversial thing to say on, say, any other forum ever.

[RobbyPants]

Which would be a bolder, more controversial thing to say on, say, any other forum ever.

There are a few places where you can get away with it.

On a semi-related note, every now and then I run into Christians who seriously feel their under attack by all these horrible minority religious groups. I found this gem on Facebook yesterday.

Talk about counting your hits and ignoring your misses mixed with special pleading. It basically invokes a No True Scotsman to defend itself, while not affording that same level of exception to everyone else.

[Whatever]

I prefer the free speech version:

[Whatever]

Do you mean in the United States, or abroad?

In the United States, mostly. I want to translate an Italian book to English. There's already an atrocious animated adaptation of said book, but no straight-up English translation.

Okay, going through the copyright act:

A translation is a "derivative work" (§101)

And § 106(2) tells us:

Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
...
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

Which means the key section is §103 (emphasis mine):

(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.

(b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.

[name_here]

If you don't have a license from the copyright holder, you're generally stuck. However, copyright is a civil, not criminal, matter. What this means in practice is that you won't get in trouble with the "copyright authorities"; you only need to worry about being sued by the copyright holder. And unlike trademarks, copyrights don't disappear if not enforced, so the copyright holder can simply overlook infringement if they don't really care.

As I understand it, there's sort of an unwritten rule that unauthorized translations of works that lack official translations are fine. The actual copyright holder can demand that you cut it out and sue if you don't comply, but they generally don't because the sort of people who create unofficial translations are often their best customers for stuff they've officially translated and it's not like they're losing money. At worst they'll send you a cease-and-desist letter. Hell, fan translators have actually been hired on by importers.

Just don't try selling it for money. That can land you in serious trouble.

[Ted the Flayer]

What's the type of communism where everyone is poor and the government controls everything? Like what North Korea has.

[virgil]

Dictatorship?

[Whatever]

North Korea gave up on actual communism a while ago. By now, they're no longer even pretending to be communist. State control over everything is totalitarianism, but that term was originally coined by fascists, not communists. They're also a (hereditary) dictatorship, because the Kim family remains in charge of the state. The justification is more along racist/nationalist/xenophobic grounds than any kind of economic struggle of east v. west.

[Username17]

North Korea is a theocratic absolute monarchy. Like Saudi Arabia. But with a weirder state religion that is based on ancestor worship. The "eternal president" of the republic is the ghost of the current dictator's grandfather, who rules the country as a spirit inhabiting statues of him on altars all across the country. His spiritual demands are then interpreted by the people who a more mundane analysis might accuse of actually running the country.

-Username17

[Ted the Flayer]

That works. I'm writing a nation of necromantic intelligences and that would work out alright.

[zugschef]

i'd call it a tyranny. they even call it "Democratic People's Rebublic" when in fact there is only one political party and a single person with absolute power.

[Koumei]

Definitely call it the Democratic Republic of _____. Because those words are typically the first sign that a place is very much not. See: People's Republic of China, Democratic People's Republic of Best Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo. Can't remember if BurmaMyanmar has a prefix like that.

Still waiting to see a democratic nation called "The Fascist Junta of ___".

[Maj]

Speaking of North Korea...

Is Kim Jong Un fomenting civil war with the glorification of Pyongyang at the expense of the rest of the country? With inequality in their faces, do you think that people will begin to see through the "West/America is evil" rhetoric and start realizing it's their own government that's making them suffer? Or will the populace just lay down on the side of the street and die while female soldiers walk past in their stylish high heels?

[Meikle641]

So, a couple of years ago my paternal Grandfather died. I never got to know him, which is a shame since he sounded like a saint and he and I probably would have gotten along famously. The reason for this is that my paternal grandmother is a crazy [EDITED] who has disowned my part of the family and several other branches of the tree. Most of the family capitulates to the crazy bitch, so any messages passed are done in a way that reminds me of the underground railroad.

Anyway, grandpa died. Supposedly we all got something in his will, and the will was allegedly mailed to us. We never got it and never went to any reading of it, as we had no fucking idea. So, how would I go about either finding out the estate lawyer who did that, or legally demanding a copy of it? I don't care if we were left 12 pieces of silver, I don't want her to win, especially since my grandfather wanted to reconnect with us before he died.

This is a bit late, but the subject came back to mind.

EDIT: Wait, having deja vu here. Not sure if I asked here before.

[Chamomile]

Speaking of North Korea...

Is Kim Jong Un fomenting civil war with the glorification of Pyongyang at the expense of the rest of the country?

Honestly, I kind of hope not. The gap between Pyongyang and everyone else is growing, yes, but that's just because Pyongyang's standard of living is improving, not because everyone else is getting worse. I heartily approve of Kim Jong Un's efforts to bring some prosperity to his people and hope he doesn't stop here, God knows they've suffered more than long enough.

[Stahlseele]

Hmm, in Koreas case. would it not, technically, be East/America is evil? O.o

[Shrapnel]

Still waiting to see a democratic nation called "The Fascist Junta of ___".

We have one: The Fascist Junta of Disney.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Still waiting to see a democratic nation called "The Fascist Junta of ___".

We have one: The Fascist Junta of Disney.

Not democratic.

[hyzmarca]

What's the type of communism where everyone is poor and the government controls everything? Like what North Korea has.

I believe that the term you're looking for is Juche.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche