Thread: Doujin category
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Old Dec 30, 2007, 07:00 PM
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Gigablah Gigablah is offline
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Indeed, using that definition the Project Majestic Mix albums would actually be official releases. In practice though we're using a somewhat mixed definition of the word "Doujin" -- extending it from its original usage in japanese to include anything fan-made. That's a matter up for discussion.

But I can tell you that
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazzz View Post
How can a commercially released album be unofficial? If it wasn't properly licensed, wouldn't that be illegal?
Yes, it is indeed illegal. The way doujin works in Japan though, is that the copyright owners tend to turn a blind eye to unofficial fan works as long as distribution is kept limited, although sometimes this is not the case. If you want examples, pretty much every doujin album in Comiket is unauthorized.

America has considerably more robust enforcement of copyright law, so fans there tread carefully with unofficial works -- almost none are sold commercially.
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