Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday committed the Cabinet to meeting three of the four demands of Taiwan's music and film industries to wipe out intellectual property piracy, including the establishment of a 100-strong dedicated police force to crack down on commercial piracy.
The fourth demand, for an Internet law designed to ban MP3 downloads and so-called peer-to-peer transmissions of such downloads, was not addressed by Yu, but a government spokesman later said that Taiwan was working toward such a law.
The premier made the remarks at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall as he addressed crowds of demonstrators from the music and film industries who had just taken part in the largest ever anti-piracy demonstration in Taiwan, organized by the Taiwan branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI.)
Yu said that a dedicated police force consisting of 100 police officers for the commercial-piracy crackdown would be established.
Secondly, Yu said that amendments will be drafted to bring existing copyright laws within the scope of the Criminal Code, which will oblige prosecutors to investigate cases of suspected violations. At present, prosecutors need only investigate upon receipt of a complaint.
The premier also pledged more rigorous enforcement of the Optical Media Law (
"Now, the government has finally realized that we have not done enough in the past. I apologize for the government's lack of efficiency in enforcing the law on this matter," Yu said.
"As long as I am in the Executive Yuan, I vow that I will do my utmost to defeat piracy," Yu said.
The secretary-general of IFPI, Robin Lee (
In addition to the three demands to which Yu agreed, however, the protesters had also called on the government to introduce an Internet law as a matter of urgency.
Yu made no comment in response to that demand.
"The matter in itself is very complicated as it involves major technical problems. Even the United States does not have such a law yet. We are certainly heading toward the enactment of an Internet law," Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (
According to IFPI data, increasing piracy coupled with the recession has halved the value of the record market from NT$10 billion in 1999 to NT$5 billion last year.
The piracy rate has increased from 36.5 percent in 1999 to 48 percent last year, excluding illegal MP3 downloads. "Half of our market has been invaded by piracy," Lee said.
Over 160 movie theaters and video rental shops islandwide closed for business until 7pm yesterday, and popular radio stations including Broadcasting Corporation of China (中廣), Voice of Taipei (台北之音), and UFO Radio (飛碟電台) refused to play pop songs in support of the demonstration.
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