What is Toei's position on fansubs?
 

I admit this is a controversial and sensitive question that I've been thinking of posting for a while now. I'm not even sure if it's against the rules, but it doesn't seem to be. If it is, please close it and forgive me.

I was just wondering what Toei's stance on fansubs are? What have been their interactions with the fan community outside of Japan? I doubt they officially approve because that will be a lot of legal mumbo jumbo, but they seem to be turning a blind eye so far.

Hope to get some of the more perspectives on this, thanks.

I know they yank anything like that off Youtube like a kid reaching for a Happy Meal.

Or like me and the single plain sugar donut at the student store. I like run there, and grab it before anyone else does

Or if you see anything with OOO :P

Yeah, pretty much :lol

If Toei were to stream everything subbed like they let Funimation do with One Piece, they wouldn't have to worry about fansubs.

As far as their Tokusatsu shows go, I believe they pretty much don't care. I think the only time a sub had to be pulled down was TV-Nihon's The First because that got a DVD release in America. Mind you, that's directly from sub groups. They crack down pretty hard on Youtube, Dailymotion, and Veoh having their stuff up.

Yeah, I think the only reservation they have is with video sharing sites, simply because of copyright laws . As far as actual subbing, it seems like Toei's just feigning ignorance. Or so I'd like to think.

I was thinking it through; based on the current economic model of the entertainment industry, there's no viable way for Toei to officially sanction fansubbing. They could condemn it, but it would cut out part of their income in the form of toy sales.

In this situation, they are similar to Hasbro when it comes to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. No official endorsement, but turning more than one blind eye because being a merchandise-driven franchise, such an arrangement is more lucrative. Fans get to watch the show, company gets more toy sales. It's mutually beneficial to both parties, but to officially sanction it is to create a precedent that can be abused in the current legal system.

Actually, Toei does that with Digimon already. Something tells me there's a contract blocking their toku shows from doing the same somewhere.