Taipei judges made a decision on Wednesday that two Web sites did not need to pay compensation to former Taipei deputy mayor King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) over criticism of him posted on the companies' blog sites.
The argument arose after King discovered that Internet users "freemanh" on yam.com.tw and "YST2000" on udn.com had posted entries on their blogs criticizing King for "humiliating Taiwan" during the International Children's Games in Thailand last year.
King led a team of athletes participating in the games in Thailand in August last year. As Taiwanese medalists walked to the podium to collect their medals, Chinese delegates rushed up to them and snatched away the Taiwanese flags they were carrying.
King immediately lodged a complaint and asked for an official apology from the Chinese team, but his request was denied and he never got an apology.
Back in Taiwan, Internet users used their blogs to complain about King's behavior and his reaction to the incident. Several said that King had "humiliated Taiwan's national flag" as he failed to prevent Chinese representatives from grabbing the flags.
King then filed a civil lawsuit against the two Web sites.
He requested NT$1 in damages from both companies and asked for a full-page apology to be placed in all local major Chinese-language newspapers.
"Judges decided that King should sue the bloggers, not the Web sites, if he really feels insulted," said Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩), spokesman for the Taipei District Court. "In addition, judges decided that the case concerned the nation's reputation and therefore the bloggers are entitled to express their views on such issues."
King has 20 days to consider whether to appeal but still had not made a decision as of press time yesterday.
King declined to comment on the ruling.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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