Why do I have the feeling that perhaps Dramafeve is just butthurt that you guys didn't really like this show because of the crappy writing about some of the characters/

I am equally confused about Dramafever being the owner of intellectual property rights to this drama. Did they produced this drama, invested it in some way or what?

Oh well....let's see

Yeah this is weird... and why JUST Level 7?? Why not any of the other gazillion recaps on this site?
And i'm wondering too if DF is planning on opening a recap site to compete with you guys! (As if... )

I usually just read and dont comment. But got to drop in to support dramabeans here. Will write to dramafever too.

All the best!

Aw, man, that's too bad. ):

Since I live in Norway, DramaFever has never been an option for me for watching anything due to airing restriction for certain areas. I always came here to read recaps. I though it was great that Dramabeans could offer recaps for fans not living in those areas so that we at least could follow the plot of each new episode to some extent without subtitles.

I really appreciate what you here at Dramabeans are doing for the fans. A huge thanks for recapping episodes until this point! :)

oh honestly. so ridiculously unfair. wouldn't your screencaps fall under fair use or something like that? it's not like you're out to make profit from the recaps. people reading them and looking at the screencaps wouldn't even discourage the majority of people from actually watching the show, whether they choose to do so at dramafever or through their own means. you have every right to be furious! i say, if you can, get legal advice/counsel and don't take this lying down.

I actually appreciate Dramafever because of the quality subs they usually provide (whereas dramacrazy and viki sometimes fail to provide accurate, quality subs) but I am startled by their legal action against Dramabeans. I feel like Dramabeans has been vital to the growth of the korean drama fanbase in the US and elsewhere and Dramafever has profited off the success of dramabeans (also, didn't they promote here on this site? like..woah, backstabbery). I also hope they don't take down certain subbers on the internet, particularly those who sub variety shows, because I have to say, those who are subbing the Running Man variety shows are doing it MUCH, AESTHETICALLY, MUCH BETTER! than Dramafever.
ugh.

This blog content definitely fall under fair use for critique and reviews. They may claim the IP for the screen stills, but for a site that does not encourage or associate with fansubs and illegal streaming, this is pure bs and a dumb move for PR by Dramafever.

SCREENCAPS are like FREE PUBLICITY.
Also, confusing. Why is it okay to screencap things in Korea, but suddenly terrible for this site? Why not go after individual tumblrers and those who distribute screencaps as well?
what the hell.
(second post!)

IF YOU ARE UPSET ABOUT THIS, please send a well-worded comment to DF and then boycott the site. Please also spread the word around to other DB fans and urge them to do the same.

There have been several good messages already posted. Seeing that they have already taken the first strike, I see no need to be overtly courteous.

Sample message:
Drama Fever,

In light of your recent actions, I will not visit your website or use your services. I will urge others to do the same.

I feel that episode recaps and watching episodes in person are two very distinct activities. One cannot substitute the other.

Please reconsider your views and actions on alienating audiences and imposing restrictions on others for no other gain than advancing your financials.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I'm pretty sure I heard about DF here too.

New version of the graphic that I posted earlier:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8387/8536287031_20e2b51f3f.jpg

Fuck Dramafever. Fuck their ~exclusive~ shit. I can't even access freaking Dramafever AND Viki here in my country. Most of the time I just rely on Dramabeans recaps THEN marathon the drama after all the subbing is done. It's ridiculous how they're ~claiming~ freaking screencaps, from a site that helped them out a lot over time!

UGH! DF is a big bully in this situation. They KNOW fansubbers and fan forums exists, and they should be supportive of these sites since their main clientele are the same people who discovered kdrama watching these fan sites. They have to know that we supplement DF drama watching with Dramabeans because it gives so much more insight into dramas that otherwise we wouldn't have watched.

I understand that US copyright law is stringent, but Dramabeans has been doing doing recaps for a while so does that mean ALL their screencaps are going to be taken down as well?! WTF.

WTH?!?! At least you guys are doing the right thing and are trying to make the best out of the situation, but I am super ticked on your behalf!!!!! I have been following you guys for years and thanks to your recaps, I have watched (and purchased) dramas that I more than likely wouldn't have without your posts.
I am normally pretty lazy when it comes to filing complaints, but I am so mad I have tweeted, retweeted, and emailed Dramafever. I am also letting my friends know and we are all going to boycott them from now on. I wonder if they have anything to do with Viki still waiting for licensing permission?
Now I am going to bust out some markers and paper and start working on my crappy drawing skills for you guys.
Fighting!!!!!!! \^-^/

Oh.... I will miss my Joo Won, :(

I emailed them. grrrrr

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Drama Fever

I'm one of your paying clients and have been with DF for about 2 years. I'm not currently using my account, but I'm still fine with paying the fees, because I have been happy with your service, hoping that maybe in a year, when my newborn infant grows up and life becomes a little bit less hectic, I can pick up watching Korean Drama again. Thing is, I would not have enjoyed K-drama had it not been for Dramabeans.com. When I don't have time to watch the shows, I still read up on their recaps, and make note of which show I should watch, which show I can skip. For people like me, dramabeans.com is bringing you great business in my opinion, because afterall, I don't watch drama right now, but I'm still paying you. Dramabeans helps me keep track of all the new k-drama shows season after season, so that when I have free time, I can finally go back and watch the shows myself.

I feel very angry when people at Dramabeans get slammed like this, because they are great avocates for k-drama who have introduced me to your site. Why not let them work to your advantage on friendly terms?

Wow, how ridiculous. There are a lot of people that wouldn't even know about their site or some of these other dramas without DB. DB was my gateway to kdramas way back in the day with MNIKSS and I'm sure it's the same for a lot of other people.

They were already on my shit list for all the crazy ads and their partnership with Hulu. I absolutely REFUSE to pay for membership to avoid the ads, but they are officially done. The vengeful part of me thinks you should remove the link to their site and let them generate their own business. The part that wants to rise above it thinks Karma a b*tch and DF is going to get theirs in the end.

I'm addicted to Dramabeans and kdrama so really not comfortable with the way DF is bullying everyone. I mean didn't they do this last year?

People lets rant here but also send an e-mail to Dramafever using the link provide above by mandelbrotr. Here's what I just send them:

Hi Drama Fever,

I have been a Premium Member of your website because of my love of asian dramas. I am also a regular visitor of DramaBeans.com because not only enjoy their drama recaps but also use them to see if a new drama will be of my likehood. I am kind of disappointed with the DCMA takedown notice regarding Level 7 Civil Service images used in episode recaps on Dramabeans.com.

I am not asian so I really find these recaps so useful in understanding the culture or references made on an episode, and that's why I strongly believe episode recaps and watching episodes are complementary activities. Regarding the images they are useful to get a feeling of the cinematography use on that particular drama, letting judge by ourselves if the visuals are good or not, for example, I am currently watching THAT WINTER, THE WIND BLOWS and it wasn't on my viewing list because I really don't do Melo. But what sold the drama for me was reading the first two episodes recaps and seeing the images posted with it make me get the feeling of the wonderful richness of the drama. Truly, the reason I am a member of your website is because of recaps increasing my interest in watching dramas.

I think that as a company that rely a lot on word of mouth marketing, you should re-examine how this move picture your company in a really negative way. If you want to take a survey just make your marketing staff reads the comments that the DramaBeans audience are leaving on that website. I understand Dramafever is a business but when a decision is making your company look like a bitchy whiny money grabber that wants to stomp over a small website that we asian drama fans has come to really enjoy and love, maybe is time to reconsider it, because there's always fan friendly Viki.

Thanks

I have a free account at DF. Got it over 3 years ago after I discovered Kdrama. I hardly ever sign in but have used the site in conjunction with DB. That is until the most recent major rotation of shows when I couldn't find the shows I wanted on hulu or DF. Then I switched to Viki. Also I rarely notice the screen caps since I read recaps at work on my smart phone.
As someone who once had images stolen I support legislation that protects even light hearted entertainment copyright, but seriously DF. Seriously?! Do you have any idea the number of shows that are in my mental queue of a weekend of flu or ibs see no one time that I would have watched on your site while watching the commercials that generate your funds and all because DB did recaps that made me curious. You nearly have a monopoly on the US market should we be looking at your robber baron tendencies or should you embrace a complementary site which could bring you more visits.
Official letter to follow.

The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when Dramafever, who used Mr. X's freely shared subs, got Mr. X's blog taken down last year because of his subs. I believe Mr. X said that he won't sub again until DF goes bust, which is a crying shame because he's one of the best subbers out there and he was subbing stuff like a Wife's Credentials that no one else was. Just like what's happening now with dramabeans, it proves that DF doesn't understand that it's part of an interdependent ecosystem. How can they think it's okay to invite db's gummimochi as a guest to promote their podcasts, and then turn around and file this DCMA against db? I read that they recently ran a poll on their site asking viewers to vote on whether or not PSH really raped Miss A. There are obviously some very sleazy bastards running DF. If you are a DF subscriber, I hope you will cancel your subscription.

힘내요, jb!

OMO! how crazy....anyway, I hope this issue gets solved soon! If I had enough artistic talent, I would TOTALLY submit some awesome drawings for me but unfortunately I'm not. Hopefully this issue will be able to blow over quickly. We love you DB!

This is SO SICK. Wtf is dramafever anyway? Never even heard of it!! Pfft what a way to drive people off you greedy bastards.
They even shut down mysoju.com!! How dare they!! When I used to live in new zealand mysoju was my saviour so I always felt really grateful...and I can't imagine the same grief that people would have had to feel for other closed-down-sites all over the world!! T^T

All I hope for is that MBC realizes what shitty work df is doing in driving away viewers and cancel their contract or whatever so df can go shrivel and burn in shame and go home and cry for all they're worth!!!

Sorry..got a bit worked up..hehe~ anyways I'd like you to know I really really love your recaps and other posts~!! Hang in there~!! If they df do anything to you we will all rise up and fight for you~!!! DM FIGHTING~!!♥♥♥♥♥

Have never liked dramafever. Thier subbing is slow as molasses, thier free subsciptions video quality sucks balls, and the ads are annoying as hell. Viki, all the way baby! Plus, the community there is way more fun. Boycotting them from here on out. Mean fodgey sharks! I'll get my fix somewhere thank you. There's always a way if your determined enough. Boo DF! :P

Considering I can't even watch half of what they have on DF(because I live in Europe), I feel like throwing stones. If they're gonna glose other sites down, they could at least make their shit available in all regions.

This is disgusting. Isn't that pretty much biting the hand that feeds you?

I have an account with DF but after this and hearing all the stories, I'll certainly never use their site again. Is there any way to delete my account?

I live in France i can't even go on DramaFever, they're litteraly useless and they dare to mess with you guys #DramafeverSucks

Dramabeans needs to let us know if DF withdraws the notice or resolves this because the loyal readers should most certainly do an organized boycott of the site if they continue to go after this site. I have no problem not using dramafever or hulu if this continues and I hope others feel the same.

There's nothing that I want to say that hasn't been said by others already, but I still want to show my support.

You girls know how crazy fandom can get (like..seriously, no shit LOL), and you are the source and origin of k-drama addiction for many, many of us. Be sure that we will all back you up, even if we are just small time fans against the big company. I think that it's just fitting to go back to an old Gaksital and quote one passage translated by girlfriday herself :

Damsari: It may appear reckless. One layer of an egg’s shell, cast against a stone will surely break. But no matter how strong a stone, it is dead. And no matter how weak an egg, it is alive. When time passes a stone will crumble into dirt. But someday there is a chick who will hatch from that egg and walk upon that dirt. The day will come when the Japanese empire’s murderous tyranny and oppression cannot defeat that egg.

Just replace the egg by us fans and the cold and dead stone by DF

Dramabeans FIGHTING!

My advice? Submit a story on the matter here https://www.techdirt.com/submitstory.php

Let them know what's going on.

dramafever needs to check out the intellectual property doctrine, fair use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Trying to create a polite e-mail, this is what I sent this morning. Keep us in the know, Dramabeans crew. We support you.

DramaFever,

I want to take this opportunity to let you know I love Drama Fever. You opened the world of Korean entertainment to me and I thank you for that. Your videos are always clear. Your subtitles, except for the rare instance, understandable. I enjoy your information links about the actors in dramas. Kudos to you for a great site. I browse through your streaming possibilities often. However, I have to let you know that the tiny paragraph you provide about each video to entice me into watching the movie/drama does not often do the trick. I'm busy and don't have a lot of time to watch drama, so I am selective. If I find a drama I might be interested in watching, I always check out another site to see a little more information about the drama.

I was disappointed to hear that you are filing a complaint against Dramabeans involving picture infringement rights. I understand that this is often done and there are legal reasons and you have a right to stop them from using the pictures. However, from a practical viewpoint, it seems Dramabeans and sites similar to them direct customers to you.(I know they are often the catalyst that sends me your way)

I'm not an attorney and don't understand the details of Intellectual Property Law. But, if you own the rights to the property, don't you have the right to allow a company to use the property without paying you for it? And wouldn't you want to... if they are increasing your customer base without charging you for it?

I hope you won't consider this hate mail....but, more 'puzzled' mail. I don't like to see these type of actions. And in the future, when I can't find any site giving me more information about one of your drama possibilities, I will wonder if you are blocking the information.

Thank you for your time.

A Concerned Viewer

For the record, I read the Level 7 recaps as I still watch the show and I think it would be kind of hysterical if you guys used screencaps from Joo Won's other dramas in the recaps. Hwang Chan Sung is in a boy band right? You can use images from videos or something, which again would make me laugh.

This might actually spice up the drama. ;)

As other have stated, it's really hard to write something politely on this, but I tried and here's what I ended up sending. Apologies for any mistakes. I'm sort of a grammar nitpicker but make a lot of mistakes when I write angry or upset.

--------
Like the subject said, you officially lost me as a user. A longtime user, at that. Since your beta days in 2009.

I don't have to clarify myself. You know what I'm talking about and I'm sure you've been recieving (and will keep recieving) a lot of complaint emails about it. Expect more. I understand and even defend a fight against illegal streaming and stealing of your subtitles. However, the site in question does neither. They just recap (with use of screencaps as visual aides) and talk about dramas.

Seriously, c'mon, not being able to use a screencap? Surely you must be joking.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I ever want to be one, but as a regular and decent human, I beg you to reconsider. Many people use the site's recaps (and the screencaps) to consider whether or not to come over to DF and watch the show. I used to include myself in there until other issues (which I've voiced my concerns about before) precluded me from returning as often as I wanted.

I seriously think DF has shot itself on the foot this time. I wish you well and hope you don't loose as many usesrs as I think you will because of this.

A pity. A real pity.

I'm disappointed. I didn't realize DF would resort to what seems like bullying a site that even promotes and directs people to DF.

Shame.
---------------------------

I tried and I hope it helps. dramabeans, don't be discouraged and keep up the good work. I'm truly grateful for what you do.

So this probably has nothing to do with it either?

http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/01/sirius-episode-1/
1.1.1 nyss January 11th, 2013 at 11:37 pm
you can watch it here but the sub is not out yet.
http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/sirius/

Reply
1.1.2 kelinci biru January 12th, 2013 at 12:33 am
I download torrent. Here’s the link : https://www.box.net/shared/j8v58t64rdwk06b3me1i

You say you provide pirate steals here too:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2007/01/yet-another-side-project/

pot call kettle ?

WUD. the hell. that is just beyond ridiculous. MBC is burning their bridges to the international audiences aren't they?

I don't see the relevance the Toyota Prius has to Dramafever... becoming a big company must have changed their values, I dislike all the ads that have taken over the site. When their page loaded, I had thought I went to the wrong site as the ad takes up 75% of the screen...

Oh My GAH! friggin hilarious poster head you guys put up. muahaha! :'D!!! but yeah, dang that sucks. maybe they caught wind of us all being appreciative that we didn't have to watch it with you guys recapping it for us and wanted you to stop. hahaha. thanks for the heads up. ~

I was set to renew my dramafever subscription but not anymore.

OMG! this is the umpteen times I've heard dramafever sending websites DCMA notices! this is insane.. i can't believe they make it illegal to use posters! I hope nothing else got taken away... I really love to read this blog! it's like my daily dose of kdrama since I don't usually have time to watch it myself! keep it up! love you guys!

Well, chances are, if I'm not watching the show and only relying on DB's recaps then I'm not going to start watching the show if the pictures are taken down.

I hate Dramafever. They are bullies. Viki streams sites legally right? They also work hard to make sure everyone can watch their shows, not just those in the US.

Viki is faster at subbing, and more fun since you can comment and converse with others while watching the video.
If a show is being subbed on Viki, I don't think much of anyone is watching it on an illegal site.

If every Kdrama site gets shut down but Dramafever, then my Kdrama addiction will end. I am not watching even one show on that site.

DF just issued this. I guess they've contacted you already. I wonder if it was really a mistake or they saw the sh*tstorm approaching.

What a ridiculous story! Go, Girls! We'll still stick around because this is the best site! <3

Dramafever have put up a blog post about this all! We're being noticed!

"It has come to our attention that one of the third parties we use to protect our licensed content inadvertently caused problems for our friends at Dramabeans. We’re very sorry for the any inconvenience this might have caused…"

DRAMABEANS FIGHTING!!!!