There is still a long way to go for Taiwan in its efforts to stem intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement, a senior official with the Taiwan branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI, 國際唱片交流協會) said yesterday.
Although the road is thorny and full of twists and turns, Robin Lee (李瑞斌), secretary general of IFPI Taiwan, said the anti-piracy struggle will never stop and he will not be absent from the battlefield.
Lee, a graduate from the prestigious National Taiwan University Department of Law, said he was working with the nation's Consumers' Foundation (消基會) in 1986 when he decided to join a group of IPR protection activists to establish the IFPI Taiwan, as there had been an outcry from Taiwan's recording companies as well as performing artists, particularly singers, over increasingly rampant piracy of CDs and tape recordings.
Initially representing 11 Taiwan recording companies that had already joined the IFPI as members, the IFPI Taiwan has also helped the nation's recording companies export their music and publications to overseas markets while enhancing musical and other cultural interactions between Taiwan and the rest of the world, Lee said.
Lee said that his, as well as Taiwan's, history in fighting against piracy is an ordeal of sweat and blood. Explaining why he walks with a limp, Lee said that one night in 1990 as he was walking toward his home in an alley, he was cut down by two men waving commando knives. Although he survived the attack, he now walks with a permanent limp.
Attacks on him and other IPR protection activists and officials are numerous, Lee said, adding that the IFPI Taiwan offices have been attacked, while a number of IFPI Taiwan employees in charge of legal affairs were once "put under house arrest" by an unknown gangland figure.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last