Namely, Japanese media. To the best of my understanding, unlicensed series may be freely downloaded without any fear of incarceration. How else could scanlations persist on the internet?
Here's the main issue: while it's pretty obvious that anything licensed by an actual company (ex: TokyoPop, Dark Horse, etc.) and translated by that company is protected in the US, and thus illegal to go download randomly, what about the raw, Japanese files of series that have been licensed for use in the US?
Here's the main issue: while it's pretty obvious that anything licensed by an actual company (ex: TokyoPop, Dark Horse, etc.) and translated by that company is protected in the US, and thus illegal to go download randomly, what about the raw, Japanese files of series that have been licensed for use in the US?