Ezpeer, the nation's second largest peer-to-peer (P2P) operator, announced yesterday that it had reached agreement with major record labels to distribute authorized music, making it the first legal P2P file-sharing operator in the greater China region.
The reconciliation between Ezpeer and copyright holders came as a surprise. The Shilin District Court ruled in June last year that Ezpeer was not guilty of infringing on intellectual property rights (IPR) by providing a for-fee platform for subscribers to swap files.
"When the verdict was announced a year ago, I called it the darkest day for the music industry," said Robin Lee (李瑞斌), secretary-general of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in Taiwan, which filed the lawsuit against Ezpeer.
"But now, I say today signals the dawn of new hope for the industry," Lee said at a press conference yesterday.
Ezpeer's larger rival Kuro, operated by Fashionow Taiwan Inc (
Kuro's top management, including its chairman, chief executive and president, were found guilty of violating IPR by the Taipei District Court in September last year. The trio were sentenced to two to three years in prison and fined NT$3 million (US$91,968) each.
One public relations official at Kuro told the Taipei Times that the firm was delighted to see Ezpeer's new business model, and "hopes to work toward that direction."
Both Lee and Kuro refused to comment on whether the two parties are in talks on a settlement.
Talking about the long-awaited cooperation, Lee said that P2P operators and record companies had differed greatly in defining P2P technology at the start, as P2P operators considered it a neutral tool while record firms deemed the tool a facility to infringe IPR.
However, as P2P operators encountered repeated setbacks internationally over the years, they gradually turned to partnerships with copyright holders.
This helped local operators realize that this was the right way to make their business sustainable, Lee said.
The new Ezpeer -- "Ezpeer+" -- will be opened for testing today and may be launched next month, said Alin Wu (
As KKBOX and Yahoo-Kimo Inc (雅虎奇摩) have entered the legal online music market earlier and saw substantial business, Ezpeer+ hopes to expand on its current subscriber base of 300,000, Wu said, without giving a specific goal.
Ezpeer+ charges P2P users — including members of Ezpeer or other operators — a monthly fee of NT$99 for unlimited swap. Newcomers will have to pay a monthly fee of NT$149 to exchange music files and play on the computer. The company is also working in cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), whose Hinet users can log on to the Ezpeer site with their Hinet accounts.
Users who wish to download the files into their digital music players will need to pay NT$249 per month. The downloaded files are in WMA format only, Wu said.
To ensure the quality of the files, record companies will provide Ezpeer+ with their music files, which will be labeled as “golden files” for swapping, Wu said.
When the service is officially launched, there will be 500,000 golden files ready for exchange, he said.
Second-hand files that are circulating among users will be marked “player files,” Wu said.
Profits given to copyright holders — record labels, composers and the Music Copyright Intermediary Society of Chinese Taipei (中華音樂著作權仲介協會) — will be calculated by the number of times a song is played online, Wu said.
He refused to disclose the split percentage, citing confidentiality agreement.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RSS