Tseng Yen-wei (
During the campaign for the Taipei County commissioner election in 2005, Tseng, a university student at the time, created a blog satirizing Chou, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate.
Now 24 years old, Tseng is a graduate student at National Taiwan Normal University.
Although Chou was elected, he filed a lawsuit against Tseng for "spreading rumors or untrue statements" with the "intention of preventing a candidate's election," and copyright violation.
CHARGES
The first two charges were based on an entry on Tseng's blog about a loan dispute between a bank and Yung-chou Corporation.
Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate Lo Wen-chia (
IMITATION
The copyright violation action was based on Chou's claim that the name of Tseng's Web site, "Wiego's blog," imitated Chou's official campaign Web site "Weigo's blog."
Earlier this month in court, Chou requested NT$50 million (US$1.5 million) in compensation in addition to criminal charges, and asked Tseng to run apology ads in three Chinese-language newspapers for three consecutive days, Tseng said.
"I don't understand why a politician -- and commissioner of the biggest county in Taiwan -- would do something like this to a student," Tseng said at the press conference.
"Of course he [Chou] knows that I don't have NT$50 million, so he's asking for the amount with the intention of putting me in debt for my entire life," Tseng said.
Lo, as well as bloggers in support of Tseng, accompanied him at the press conference.
"Tseng only quoted me on his blog in the entry on the Yung-chou case," Lo said. "Chou should have sued me, not Tseng."
Tseng said that both he and his family are suffering as a result of the lawsuit.
"If I'm declared guilty next Monday, no one would ever dare criticize politicians on the Internet again."
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
RSS