We cannot remember the last time when the students of Taiwan were so united by a burning rage. This time it's the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) who have become public enemy No. 1 of students nationwide. They've earned this moniker for a raid on National Chengkung University (成功大學) dormitories and for the federation's talk of filing copyright lawsuits against 14 students caught with computers containing MP3 files in their dorm rooms.
We hope the federation will reach a settlement with the students involved, so long as its objective of educating the public about respect for intellectual property rights (IPR) is accomplished. This is mainly because we question the wisdom and the fairness of going from total inaction in terms of educational efforts on IPR, to drastic measures, such as raids on dormitories by uniformed police and lawsuits against students.
Many of our youngsters are very ignorant about what constitutes an IPR violation. For example, many erroneously thought it was legal to make their own CDs, as long as the CDs were for personal use, not for sale. Some students thought that downloading copyrighted songs from the Internet without authorization was legal, if no CDs were made. On the other hand, college students do have a role in the epidemic of IPR violations of Taiwan. Besides producing pirated CDs for their personal use, in many instances students are the major group of purchasers of pirated CDs.
It's no wonder the federation seemed so adamant at one point about making an example of the 14 Chengkung students by filing lawsuits. However, we were happy to see that during a press conference yesterday, the IFPI apparently softened its stance by declining to comment on whether it will proceed with the lawsuits while the investigation and evidence-gathering continue.
The incident has already accomplished the federation's main objective, which is to heighten public awareness and understanding of IPR. In addition, if it were to proceed with the lawsuits, the move could trigger a boycott against IFPI members by students nationwide. As Taiwan remains a major market, such a boycott could be very damaging. Perhaps, the federation could settle by having the students (or their parents) pay compensatory damages that could be used to finance public education on intellectual property rights.
However, we also call on the students to calm down and take on a more compromising position toward the federation.
Surprise over the raid is perhaps the major reason for the strong and angry backlash among students. However, if we step back for a moment, it becomes clear that such actions were inevitable. First, it is no coincidence that the raid took place right before the US Trade Representative's office releases its annual Special 301 report and lists on April 30. In fact, the US has just recently expressed its displeasure over Taiwan's lack of progress in fighting IPR violations. There has been speculation that Taiwan's status is likely to be downgraded this year from the Special 301 "watch list" to the "priority watch list."
The most questionable aspect of the whole incident is the legality of the dorm searches. The police needed either a search warrant or proper consent from either the students or the university, or possibly both, to make a search. Allegations that neither search warrants nor proper consent were obtained until after the raid should be investigated.
Most important, everyone needs to realize that Taiwan is undergoing a transformation from intellectual property user to IP creator. Each year, we are creating more and more IP of our own. If we want others to respect our own IP rights, we must first learn to respect the rights of others.
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