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MP3 case resolved with a compromise between students, industry and MOE

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.
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