The Kaohsiung City Government is in hot water again after a calligrapher said his work was used in promotions for this year’s International Kaohsiung Festival without his permission.
A Facebook user named Y.C. Lin who manages a “Yu’s Calligraphy” page on Sunday appeared to accuse festival organizers of plagiarizing the characters for “Taiwan” (臺灣) that he had drawn.
Photographs shared by Lin appear to show similar characters in a sticker set and poster promoting the festival.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
It is not the first time Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) administration has been accused of plagiarism, said Lee Hsin-han (李欣翰), director of the Taiwan Radical Wings party’s Kaohsiung chapter.
Han has “avoided the issue” in previous instances by saying they were the “unprompted behavior of [his] supporters” and that conversations should not revolve around “small, technical issues,” Lee said.
Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Peter Pan (潘恒旭) is likely to distance himself from the latest accusation by saying the marketing materials reflect the unprompted support for Han by the company that produced them, but the bureau’s name was on the poster, which would imply it endorsed the items, Lee said.
The bureau has asked for the controversial materials to be removed immediately, Pan said in a statement.
The bureau reserves the right to take legal action against any possible infringement of its rights on its mascot, the Kaohsiung Bear-Hero (高雄熊), and other text or images, Pan said.
Eyes Media, an e-commerce platform, did organize International Kaohsiung Festival events to promote tourism to Kaohsiung in Singapore and Malaysia, but on an unpaid basis, bureau Tourism Marketing Division head Lee Hsin-ta (李信達) said.
The bureau was the supervising agency for festival-related work, but it is not the supervising agency for Kaohsiung Tourism Day events and has not authorized the use of the bureau’s name to Eyes Media, he said.
The Kaohsiung Tourism Day event poster and stickers that have led to rights infringement concerns were printed by the company without being approved by or reported to the bureau, Lee Hsin-ta said, adding the company had not received financial support from the bureau.
The materials were produced by an outsourced manufacturer, Eyes Media spokeswoman Chang Yi-hsuan (張譯瑄) said.
After reports of the plagiarism allegations emerged on Saturday evening, all related gift items, posters and online marking materials have been removed, she said, adding that only 20 sticker sets had been handed out.
The manufacturer who produced the items is handling the issue with the original artist, and while the company has seen Lin’s complaints on Facebook, it has not received notice of a lawsuit, she said.
The company did not sign a contract with the bureau to print the materials, and the materials have nothing to do with the bureau, she said.
The company is apologizing to the bureau and to the public for the disturbance, she added.
Starbucks Taiwan’s decision to charge for drink customization, which had been free, has sparked consumer backlash, highlighting the challenge of raising prices without making customers feel they are losing value, experts said. Since Oct. 12, customers who order drinks with less or no ice and ask to have the volume topped up with milk or other liquid have been charged an additional NT$15. Topping off drinks without ice was previously free, and disgruntled customers posted photos on social media showing that iced drinks ordered without ice were only half full if the extra NT$15 was not paid. The posts drew tens of thousands
EXPLANATION: Tsai said he attended events featuring various interviewees to observe them firsthand as part of his interview research Television host Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) last night broke his silence over a controversy surrounding his appearance at a campaign event for Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋), saying he had never supported Taiwan independence. “I have always hoped for friendly cross-strait relations. I have never supported Taiwan independence,” Tsai wrote in a post on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo. Tsai, who has hosted television shows in China, attended the opening of Shen’s campaign headquarters on Oct. 4, drawing criticism from Chinese social media users and prompting some Chinese companies to distance themselves from him. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
The husband of a Taiwanese woman stabbed to death at a hotel in Japan has been detained on suspicion of entering into a sham marriage and taking out high-value insurance policies in her name, Tainan prosecutors said today. A woman surnamed Ching (井), 38, was killed on Monday last week at a tourist hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, Japan. A Taiwanese woman surnamed Yang (楊) was arrested by Japanese police on suspicion of murder, Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office deputy chief prosecutor Wang Sheng-hao (王聖豪) said. Investigators suspect that Ching's new husband, surnamed Lee (李), 29, arranged a sham marriage, encouraged her to travel to Japan
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) today defended the government's decision to deny Chinese actor Zhang Linghe (張凌赫) entry to Taiwan for a fan meeting, citing the actor's social media posts denigrating national sovereignty and the sensitive timing ahead of local elections. Zhang, who stars in the popular Chinese period romance Pursuit of Jade (逐玉), was scheduled to visit Taiwan late this month. The rejection sparked a war of words between the council and China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), which accused Taipei of imposing "unreasonable restrictions" on cross-strait cultural exchanges. Speaking to reporters at the Legislative Yuan, Chiu was asked
RSS