Bandai have gone on the offensive against fansubbers, by sending out a letter to the fan community saying they will be carefully monitoring the creation and distribution of what they term “illegal fansubs or other pirated copies” of its anime content. Specifically mentioned is the upcoming Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society - one show that probably wouldn’t suffer much from lost sales even if fansubbers took the project on.

The company is insisting that they will take legal action against any groups distributing Bandai properties in the future, but to date no actual lawsuits have been filed by any company against any fansub group - and it’s questionable whether taking fans to court would do much for a company’s image (look at the RIAA, for instance).

Source: Active Anime