A professor’s attempt to name a political party the “Pirate Party” (海盜黨) was thwarted again following previous rejections from the Ministry of the Interior and the Executive Yuan’s Administrative Appeals Commission.
The Taipei High Administrative Court earlier this week ruled against Chung Yuan Christian University associate professor Tai Che’s (戴浙) effort to name his party the “Pirate Party.” The party aims to reform the nation’s copyright law and the patent system, Tai said.
In the ruling, the High Administrative Court agreed with the ministry that the name of the party did not reflect the objective of the party.
The ruling came in the wake of Tai’s unsuccessful appeal with the Executive Yuan’s Administrative Appeals Commission over the ministry’s rejection of his party’s naming application.
The commission this February turned down the appeal, saying it agreed with the ministry’s reasoning.
The ministry rejected the party’s proposed name on the grounds that the name contradicted the stated aims of the party and that the name “pirate” could mislead the public into believing that members of the party “are real pirates.”
The Criminal Code also contains acts outlawing piracy, the ministry said.
Upset over the ministry’s refusal, Tai said that pirate parties exist in 17 countries to lobby for reforms to copyright laws and greater transparency in government, which he said was also the objective of his party.
The English word “pirate” could be interpreted as “free copyright” and his purpose in creating the party was not to form a criminal gang, he added.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS