MangaDex Merchandise: Mouse Mats

[Holo]

@bees

The instigators of the drama knew about the upcoming announcement and timed their drama to intentionally make us look bad.

And as I repeated elsewhere, I have no inherent problem with groups receiving money to pay for raws and servers. But they should be honest about it and not find other excuses.

 

[BestBoy]

@bees You really can't see the difference? One is exchanging money for an illegal service, and the other is exchanging money for a product.

 

[Yuri]

the other is exchanging money for a product.

In order to fund a website with the sole purpose of hosting illegal material. Mangadex is not taking the high ground in this situation like so many people are pretending. A compromise of some sort would be for the best, but I don't see that happening at this point since neither side seems willing to budge. Sorry for keeping the off-topic going.

 

[Mapax]

Are they made from the mouse skin the Mangacat hunted? 🤣🤣🤣

 

[Teasday]

_{@Yuri posted:}

In order to fund a website with the sole purpose of hosting illegal material.

That's what we've been doing with donations so far, yeah. The only practical difference in this case is that the """donators""" are getting a mousepad for it.

 

[shyevsa]

24x20cm is quite nice mousepad. but I am in love with 70cmx30cm anyway or plan on doing that?

 

[Tenri]

You weren't kidding about the awkward timing.
But cute mousepad is cute and I need a new mousepad anyways.

 

[Zing]

Q: I like the idea of a MD mouse pad, but I dont see any appealing designs. If this thing works out, will there be bigger variation of designs? Maybe even something from popular mangas?

 

[Holo]

We wouldn't be able to sell anything related to manga because we don't own the rights to it.

We can only sell things with our brand on, because we own the rights to that.

 

[realcaze]

Oof 24x20.. id need double the size

 

[Holo]

We may sell larger sizes in future if this run goes well.

 

[TheBoll]

What's the drama you're all talking about ? MD had a pretty good reputation in my mind.
The art on the mousepad are great btw.

 

[darasu]

really cool idea. Sorry to say it, but none of the designs were appealing for me. I hope in the future there's more variety of them.

 

[definitionofinsanity]

For no particular reason, just asking purely out of curiosity, but... are these... stain resistant?

 

[goronyanpai]

The designs were good enough imo.
As someone who knows how to make and enjoy art, simplicity is better, like playing in one full color and focusing on a certain angle.
I like the second one after Totoro, but because I use a pc, I don't need it.

 

[definitionofinsanity]

@Yuri

In order to fund a website with the sole purpose of hosting illegal material. Mangadex is not taking the high ground in this situation like so many people are pretending. A compromise of some sort would be for the best, but I don't see that happening at this point since neither side seems willing to budge. Sorry for keeping the off-topic going.

@bees

I mean this is taking money to fund hosting the product of that illegal activity so I'm not really sure what the difference is if that's what you're focusing on.

Y'know, I get enough of the feeling that I'm living in a clown world offline in reality, could be please not exacerbate it by fucking pretending that Mangadex is on the same level as, I dunno, "The Silk Road" and scanlation releases are the equivalent of black tar heroin?

Copyright infringement, alone, is not under the purview of criminal law in America. The DMCA was enacted specifically to address things like this and it's not so much illegal as it is infringement of intellectual property. A breach of copyright? Yes, potentially. Illegal? Not necessarily. Counterfeiting and piracy are not mutually inclusive necessarily with copyright infringement. And here's the big fucking wrench in the "but it's illegal" argument: it's a derivative service and format that is not available for purchase. It's nearly on the same level as calling Let's Plays on Youtube "illegal." Gray area in Fair use and possible copyright infringement? Yes. Criminally prosecutable? Fuck no. Same applies here. And considering that Mangadex is taking donations and isn't charging for access or releases and is also raising money for hosting by selling you a completely legal good... The whole "piracy" argument that CAN be prosecutable doesn't apply here because it's not copyright infringement purely on the basis of making a profit.

And because this has, once again, turned into another episode of "As The World Turns: Scanlator Edition":

Spoiler

Any scanlators that are too busy starting drama and bullshit in the community obviously don't value working on their projects enough for me to donate to them. And I have donated many times to groups that do work on series I love, that got dropped before (Henneko translators are the real MVP) or otherwise do good quality work. Getting paid hundreds or thousands of dollars a month just to decipher moonrunes of a series you probably already liked is a really, really good god damn gig. Don't by a Spoony. Don't fuck it up. Don't stir shit up. I don't care what autistic shenanigans you pull behind the scenes with... whatever Chinese cartoon translation mafia Discord you hail from. Just don't shit in the streets where everyone has to see it and deal with it. Because that just makes my wallet firmly close in disgust.

 

[Fuko]

will there be dakimakura?

 

[bees]

Damned if you do and damned if you don't I guess. I'm still not sold on this being the best option but it's neither my decision nor am I a stakeholder. I definitely don't envy y'all's position.

@definitionofinsanity
Hon, my reference to "illegal" was because of its use in the other post, but also what even is this post what are you doing. Please don't spread misinformation like this. A lot of scanlation is definitely a grey area but there are plenty of licensed series on this site. Even just by offering a donation incentive Mangadex is opening itself up to a lot more risk than they were a previously, which was still pretty significant. By definition operating in a legal grey area is pretty risky, and there are definitely some aspects that are a bit darker than others. Pretending that none of this risk exists is terribly irresponsible.

 

[KuroViLolitannia]

Totoro one is cute. Wish it's larger so I can use it as Yugioh playmat tho lol.

 

[definitionofinsanity]

@bees

Hon, my reference to "illegal" was because of its use in the other post

That doesn't excuse calling it something it shouldn't be referred to.

Please don't spread misinformation like this.

Uh, it's not misinformation.

A lot of scanlation is definitely a grey area but there are plenty of licensed series on this site.

...Which is completely and utterly irrelevant. You are mixing up licensed CONTENT with licensed SERIES. The two are not the same. They two are not comparable. Mangadex does not allow licensed CONTENT on the site. There are probably hundreds of manga series that will potentially be licensed IN THE FUTURE on this site. So basically you're making copyright argument from the basis of who picks "correctly" from a crystal ball.

I have news for you: even if a SERIES is licensed, it does not mean that the CONTENT is infringement. Henneko for example. The manga, for instance, is a perfect story and a clear example of why you're gravely mistaken. When it was licensed, all the scanlators that had been working on it up till that point backed off and let the publisher take over. Only the publisher was fucking stupid and didn't do anything with the license that they paid for and haven't released any further content of the series in coming up on a decade now. This SERIES is still licensed. The CONTENT is not. And it's still up because the content that we have is pre-license and because the content after that is not licensed content and isn't available.

If you knew as much about copyright as you think you did, you'd know that impact to market is a huge consideration in copyright law and what constitutes infringement. It's going to be INCREDIBLY GOD DAMN DIFFICULT for the English publisher that holds the licensing rights to Henneko to say that CClaw Translation is biting into their profits when... they have done expressly jackshit with the license and the content he's using is not available in English nor is it being sold on the market. So... No. Not misinformation.

Even just by offering a donation incentive Mangadex is opening itself up to a lot more risk than they were a previously, which was still pretty significant.

"Than they were previously"? I have news for you: the owner of Mangadex, to the best of my knowledge, isn't a millionaire philanthropist that keeps MD afloat with his own massive pocketbook. Whether by ads, donations or sales or legal product... Mangadex, and in fact ANY hosting site, will take in revenue in SOME WAY.

...And that matters not one damn bit. Because that's not the legal definition of piracy, which is laid out as violating copyright with the sole purpose of being for profit. You are not "for profit" if you have a god damn tip jar. You are not "for profit" if you sell a mouse pad which doesn't violate any copyright holders' rights.

By definition operating in a legal grey area is pretty risky, and there are definitely some aspects that are a bit darker than others. Pretending that none of this risk exists is terribly irresponsible.

And if you believe Mangadex is in an illegal gray area, the next time you see kids operating a lemonade stand, kick it over and inform them that their use of Lipton tea and Sweet N Low constituted breach of copyright and licensing agreements and violating various third party agreements.

Could Mangadex be sued? Absolutely. That doesn't mean much of anything, however. Frivolous lawsuits are a thing and people have even attempted lawsuits when they had no legal standing upon which to execute them. This is why we have anti-SLAPP laws and the DMCA in this case.