TV program accused of violating copyright law

A Public Television Service Foundation (PTSF, 公共電視) program was yesterday accused of violating the Copyright Law (著作權法) by an expert in Taiwanese popular music.

Yang Wei-ren (楊為人), head of administration at the television station's program department, said that a separate company had produced the program, Faces of the Century (世紀的容顏), under a contract but that PTSF was trying to mediate the dispute between Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), an expert in Taiwanese popular music of the 1930s and after, and the production company.

"We immediately stopped the commercial sale [of the videotape of the program], and are trying to mediate the dispute between the production company and the expert," Yang said.

According to Lee, he interviewed Taiwanese popular music singer Chou Chien Yueh-er (周簡月娥), whose stage name is Ai-ai (愛愛), at her house a year ago for his own radio program. The TV show's director filmed Lee's interview without his permission, aired the program in April this year, and reproduced it as a videotape for commercial sale, Lee said.

Lee said that the TV crew had arrived at the house having been notified by Ai-ai that she was going to be interviewed. The program's director, Tsao Wen-chieh (曹文傑)said that his crew had been at Ai-ai's house conducting their own interview before Lee arrived.

Lee is seeking an apology from the production company. "The program's director told me that they were just shooting for reference material and were not going to use it [in any other way], but they cheated me. I am just looking for an apology. If I get any compensation, I'll donate all of it to charity," Lee said.

Tsao claimed that it was within his rights to film Lee's interview with Ai-ai. "Ai-ai is a public figure. Anybody can shoot anything about her. This is just like one TV station shooting another TV station's interview. Does TVBS need to get permission from another TV station for the copyright [of materials shot by the other station]? If Mr Lee didn't want us to shoot, why didn't he stop the interview?" Tsao asked.

Hsiao Hsiung-lin (蕭雄淋), Lee's attorney, said that Tsao's explanation was not valid. "Tsao said that copyright issues do not apply to interviews, but according to the Copyright Law, that is only true of news. Obviously, the show was not a news broadcast."

Ma Chun-jen (馬雋人), a TV cameraman from China Television Company, said that the tape gives the appearance of having been shot "furtively." "The angle was weird to me. If the interview had been agreed on, the angle of the shoot would not be like that," Ma said.