The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday released a draft of the new Copyright Law (著作法) that allows police and customs officers to arrest suspected pirates without receiving a complaint first.
Under current regulations, entertainment and software industry representatives must file a complaint with police before they can take action against disk counterfeiters.
"Optical disk piracy is a serious crime and fines should be increased," the draft law says.
"Using computer software, pirates can easily reproduce audio, video and software disks and distribute them at very low cost, generating huge profits. This causes massive damage to the rights holder and also hurts Taiwan's international standing and industrial competitiveness," the draft says.
Cash rewards for informants and the police who raid pirate disk factories have also been increased, IPO director-general Tsai Lien-sheng (
"Cash rewards for informers have been increased [from NT$1 million] to NT$10 million, and the incentive for police officers has been increased to [a maximum of] NT$2 million."
While cash incentives may help, pundits say enforcing the new law is key.
"Any kind of incentive to police departments is great," said John Eastwood, a lawyer at Winkler Partners (博仲法律事務所) and co-chair of the Intellectual Property Committee of the European Cham-ber of Commerce in Taipei.
But the new law needs to be enforced effectively once it is passed, he said.
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Despite all the laws passed to date, the number of infringements went up last year. It will take a few months after the law has been passed to see how effective it is."
The law is expected to be passed during the current legislative session, slated to end in late May, Tsai said yesterday.
Eastwood's counterpart at the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) also welcomed the changes.
"We're definitely very happy," said Jeffrey Harris, co-chair of AmCham's Intellectual Property Committee and director of Orient Commercial Enquiries, a consulting firm specializing in IPR.
"The changes are all very encouraging and put Taiwan on a par with the rest of the world," Harris said.
Taiwan has often been accused of being soft on music and video pirates. For example, the highest fine courts can hand down to counterfeiters is only NT$450,000. Under the draft law the maximum fine will be raised to NT$8 million. Compensation for victims of piracy will be hiked to NT$5 million from NT$1 million.
One in two movie disks sold in Taiwan is a fake, according to the US-based Motion Picture Association. Last year the value of counterfeit products seized by the government increased by 20 percent to top NT$8 billion, but the number of prosecutions for movie piracy fell by 36 percent to just 671 cases, according to the Motion Picture Association of Taiwan.
The US government has been pushing Taiwan to decrease the level of piracy and has included the nation on its Special 301 Priority Watch List of serious violators of intellectual property rights for the past five years. The annual review of the list is expected to take place in April. Pundits have predicted Taiwan will be on the list again this year.
The draft law is expected to be forwarded to the legislature immediately for the first of three readings.
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