AmCham stresses copyrights
A six-member delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) yesterday called on Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to discuss upcoming legislative bills considered crucial to Taiwan's business climate.
At a meeting with Wang, Am-Cham emphasized the importance of passing the proposed amendments to the Copyright Law (著作權法) during the fall legislative session.
"This is the single most important thing that the Taiwan government can do this year to increase investment confidence," AmCham president Andrea Wu (吳王小珍) said in a statement.
This is something Washington is watching very closely as well, Wu said, noting that the fate of this bill would affect the progress of bilateral trade relations.
The delegation also advised Wang about another AmCham priority item: a bill to safeguard the confidentiality of proprietary data submitted by pharmaceutical companies in the course of registering their products in the local market.
Quanta to buy back shares
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest notebook computer maker, said it plans to spend as much as NT$1.3 billion (US$38.06 million) on a share buyback.
Quanta Computer may buy as many as 20 million shares at up to NT$65 each, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The buyback period started yesterday and will last until Oct. 5.
The plan follows the company's announcement on May 6 that it planned to buy as many as 40 million shares at up to NT$90 each during a two-month period ending July 5.
Chi Mei sales soar
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp's (奇美電子) sales last month rose to NT$7.7 billion (US$225.5 million) from NT$4.7 billion in July last year, the company said yesterday in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
On Thursday, Chi Mei told investors that last month's sales figures would be lower than June's NT$9.9 billion as screen prices started to slide.
Prices of liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) used in computers and televisions have fallen by more than 10 percent since last month because of oversupply, according to the Taipei-based market researcher WitsView Technology Corp (聯景科技).
Prices of screens measuring 17 inches diagonally, which are used in computer monitors, have dropped to US$250 from US$280 in July, according to WitsView.
Hualien-Seoul flights instituted
TransAsia Airways (復興航空) will inaugurate charter flight services between Hualien and Seoul tomorrow, the Civil Aeronautics Administra-tion (CAA) said yesterday.
It will mark the first time that an international charter flight will take off from Hualien Airport since the CAA opened the airport for full-fledged international charter flight services in April last year.
In the past, Hualien Airport was only allowed to operate charter flights to Japan.
TransAsia will use an Airbus A321 plane for its maiden Hualien-Seoul charter flight, CAA officials said.
The carrier will operate 12 round-trip Hualien-Seoul charter flights from tomorrow until Aug. 22.
The Sunday flight will also be the first international charter flight since Hualien Airport's new passenger terminal was inaugurated last year.
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned weak against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.001 to close at NT$34.156 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$365 million.
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