A compromise has been reached in the case of a group of students at National Chengkung University -- accused of illegally swapping MP3 music files -- and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the Ministry of Education announced yesterday.
In return for having all of the charges against the students dropped, three conditions were accepted by all parties involved, the ministry said at a press conference.
The conditions are that students will publish a quarter-page formal letter of apology on the front pages of five major newspapers within ten days; the university will revise official university policy to include regulations protecting intellectual property rights; and the Ministry of Education will tighten regulations regarding academic Web sites on university campuses, the ministry said.
The federation warned that the compromise solution was a one-time deal and that it would not be as lenient in any future cases that might arise.
When the MP3 intellectual property rights case first broke in April, it created widespread panic across Taiwan's university campuses.
Originally 14 students were accused, but in the end, a strong case could be made against only five who had designed a Web site where music files were traded.
This fact, coupled with the sincere regrets expressed by the students, finally led the federation to soften its initially hard-line stance.
Many supporters of the students on university campuses across the nation point out that the swapping of MP3 music files is extremely prevalent among university students.
They protested against what they said was the arbitrary nature of prosecuting those particular students and also questioned police tactics used in the initial search of the university's dormitories.
In mid-April, the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office carried out an unannounced search of the dorms and confiscated the computers of the 14 students.
The Center for Science and Technology Law at the Institute for Information Industry (資策會科技法律中心) has reported that laws to protect intellectual property are currently somewhat ambiguous in their application to cases involving downloading files over the Internet.
The process of compressing a music file into the MP3 format, however, is considered a form of "reproduction" that violates intellectual property rights if the artist's permission isn't obtained beforehand.
According to article 91 of the intellectual property rights law, the crime is punishable by a jail sentence of six months to three years and a fine of up to NT$200,000.
If the pirated MP3 files are collected and then sold, a prison sentence of six months to five years and a fine of up to NT$300,000 are stipulated.
Finally, those who sell pirated MP3 files in large volume face even stiffer sentences.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique