Lawyers vow to assist students

Lawyers of the Taiwan Bar Association (中華民國律師公會聯合會) said yesterday they were willing to provide legal assistance to the 14 students of Chengkung University who are facing threats of lawsuits as a result of downloading MP3 music files.

Ju Sheng-chyurn (朱勝群), director of the national bar association, announced at a press conference that the lawyers are willing to offer voluntary services to the university students, whose computers were seized by Tainan District Prosecutors' Office for allegedly storing MP3 files downloaded from the Internet.

Acting on a letter of complaint, Tainan prosecutors carried out a search of student dorms at the university in Tainan on April 11, during which they confiscated 14 computers.

Chu said the bar members felt the urge to offer assistance after watching students across the country intensify their protests against the search.

To resolve the incident rationally, Chu said, legal problems surrounding the controversial search and Internet technology must be first be clarified.

The search last week has prompted debate as to whether it is a copyright violation to download MP3 music from Web sites without authorization from the copyright owners. While some maintain that any unauthorized download is illegal, some hold that the students' acts could be exempted on the ground of "fair use."

The Copyright Law prohibits unauthorized "reproduction" of literary works, sound recordings, photographs and computer programs. In theory, one could be held liable under the law for simply downloading or printing material from the Web without authorization. However, the law allows exemptions under the circumstances of "fair use," which include the use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes, in the judicial process, or for personal non-profit use.

In analyzing the Chengkung University case, Hsiao Hsiung-lin (蕭雄淋), a renowned intellectual property attorney and scholar, said the students' acts were "immoral," even though legally they could claim their MP3 downloads were intended for "non-profit" and "fair" use.

However, John Wu (吳志揚), a technology law attorney, warned that the students could still face punishment because it remained doubtful whether the "fair use"doctrine applied to their case.

Under the Copyright Law, application of the "fair use" doctrine is subject to considerations over the purposes for which the copyrighted materials are duplicated, as well as evaluations on how much of the copyrighted work is used in reproductions.

Most importantly, it is subject to an evaluation on the extent to which the reproductions have affected potential market and current values of the copyrighted work.

Wu said the students should still be wary of the legal consequences of their acts because "free MP3 downloads" pose a great threat to the survival of the music industry.

Moreover, with rapid developments in Internet technology, concerns have been raised worldwide that intellectual property rights will contradict the promise of the Internet as an open and free information-sharing system.

Both Hsiao and Wu have said that the law must be adapted to reflect technological developments. However, both believe it is wrong to expect established intellectual property protection systems to collapse as a result of the rapid expansion of the Internet.

"And this message is especially important to the younger generation, who often think the whole world will change with the coming of the Internet age," Wu said.