copyright
Usage of subtitle files of copyrighted movies to get statistics about used words and their number count
<p>I know that there is a problem with creating subtitle files containing the original phrases (or even the translation of what has been said) and to release them.</p>
<p>There are platforms, eg. OpenSubtitles, where you can download all these subtitle files. Even though the providing of these subtitles is not legal, I would like to get only the words and their count in the movie.</p>
<p>If an developer sells an app, that uses a subtitle API, to retrieve the subtitle files for creating word-statistics about the movie, would this be a legal problem to any person involved?</p>
<ul>
<li>Is the developer breaking the law, because his app downloads the whole subtitle file temporarily to the users device?</li>
<li>Is the user of the app breaking the law, because the app downloads the whole subtitle file temporarily to his device?</li>
<li>Are the resulting statistics (words and their count) in anyway copyrighted?</li>
</ul>

<p>The subtitles would be protected by copyright, in general.</p>
<p>In the US, temporarily downloading the subtitle text to create statistics would, I think, constitute a fair use. It is transformative, it does not serve as a substitute for the original sub titles, and it does not harm the market for the film or for the sub titles. The existence of the API for the subtitles might or might not be evidence for fair use, depending on who supplied the data and under what terms.</p>
<p>In other countries that have an exception to copyright for analysis and criticism, such a download might be held to come under such an exception. One cannot be sure until there is case law on the point, and I know of none. The ruling might be different in different countries.</p>
<p>Statistics (words and their counts) about the subtitles for a particular film or video would be facts, and as such would not be protected by copyright at all. A text discussing those facts would be protected.</p>

<h2>Creating or providing subtitles <em>is</em> legal for disability access</h2>
<p>Derivative works for the purpose of allowing access to people with disabilities, like subtitles or braille translations, are an exemption to copyright law.</p>
<p>So making and distributing these files for that purpose is not copyright breach. However, that <em>isn’t</em> your purpose.</p>
<h2>You can make copies for research purposes</h2>
<p>This is a fair dealing exemption where that doctrine applies and is almost certainly fair use in the Us. However, that only has a clear application to a researcher, not a commercial application that <em>enables</em> research.</p>
<h2>If you don’t copy anything it’s not copyright violation</h2>
<p>If the app doesn’t make a copy of the original (except for caching which is allowed) then there are no copyright issues.</p>
