Hi Friends,
I have to take a break from translating for a few weeks. If you have been following me on other social media, you may already know why. If not, the reason is I am really crushed that Amazon Prime Video subtitles copied from my blog (Song: Padakaali) without my permission. I have seen some people steal my work and post it on Quora or put it as subtitles on YouTube etc., but Amazon is a big establishment. I do not expect this from them. So I’m taking a mental health break and I’ll be back to translating soon.
I am overwhelmed by all the support you have offered me during this time. Thank you from the bottom of the heart. Also thank you for your patronage, likes, comments and encouraging words. If you would like to further support me, please feel free to share this note on any social media you like and ask Amazon to do the right thing.
What I have done till now: I have filed an IP Infringement claim at Amazon US with no good results. I am only asking for the subtitles to be removed or at least credited in some way.
Their response: Canned messages were sent back saying they received it, looked into it and rejected it because it cannot be verified. No information is given as far as what they cannot verify, or what additional information I can give to help them verify. The message also says to resubmit the claim with additional information if I feel they are mistaken.
I resubmitted it twice with the same result. I don’t have any more additional information to give unless they specifically ask for something, which they are not. Here is the video evidence to what I am talking about. You can also review it yourself on Prime Video if you are a member.
With you, you are doing a great work.Being a malayali and not knowing the meaning to the songs i sing daily is pretty sad.your work is unmatched…not joking, i cant even see a single website/channel that is in intrested in translating malayalam songs,Thank you for that , from the bottom of my heart,)
Hope amazon responded appropriately.
Hi, Thank you for your support.
Apparently this is part of the Amazon independent distributors program. Amazon is not directly involved in this, but they will honor the complaint filed and let the respective people know. The distributor of the movie contacted me from Kochi and said the subtitling was done by a third party and they did not know it was copied. There is nothing which can be done at this point to credit me as the movie is already packaged. My only option is to make them pull the movie, which I thought was harsh especially during COVID when everyone is trying to make ends meet. So I have let the issue go with a promise from the distributor that they will vet the subtitlers better next time.
-T