Advertising consultant Jerry Fan (范可欽) yesterday announced that as a gesture of goodwill at Christmas, he would stop selling non-official Rubber Duck merchandise near Keelung Harbor from today.
Fan, who had been hired to plan, promote and handle activities related to Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck display at Keelung Harbor, was fired before the show started last week for selling two pieces of unauthorized Rubber Duck merchandise: “Merry Duck,” wearing a white-and-red scarf and a red Christmas cap, and “Fortune-attracting Duck,” with a horn on its head.
Fan said that he did not want the “bickering” to continue, because it could impact the number of visitors coming to see the display, but he insisted that he had done nothing wrong.
He had previously said that Hofman does not own the copyright for the iconic rubber yellow duck, and that the artist’s Rubber Duck was not patented in Taiwan and therefore unprotected.
Keeling City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) in a letter made public on Monday had warned Fan and his team that the 13,000 replicas of the Hofman Rubber Duck are the only authorized merchandise.
Police have stepped up raids of illegal vendors close to the Rubber Duck site, Huang said.
“All illegal sales activities will be stamped out based on the law,” he said.
The unauthorized merchandise had earlier drawn an angry protest from the artist, who accused the Keelung show of turning his installation into a “commercial circus.”
To avoid the copyright infringement dispute, Taiwan Smart Card Corp suspended its rubber-duck-themed stored value cards, which had been authorized by Fan’s team.
“It’s regrettable” that the situation has changed, the company said, but promised to donate all the cards it has already produced to charity after the copyright dispute is settled.
The 50-day display of the Rubber Duck in Keelung marks its third stop in Taiwan. Despite some hiccups, the two previous events in Greater Kaohsiung and Taoyuan earlier this year were successful, drawing more than 5.5 million visitors.
The Keelung City Government has estimated that the installation will attract more than 6 million visitors to the port city.
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS