The dispute between Google Inc and the Taipei City Government continued yesterday as the world’s top search engine giant said it disagreed with Taipei’s interpretation of a local law and that it would continue to suspend paid apps offerings on its Android Market in Taiwan.
“We continue to disagree with the chairman’s interpretation of the Consumer Protection [Act, 消費者保護法] (which was originally intended to protect consumers ordering physical goods by [postal] mail),” Android policy counsel Kenneth Carter said in a statement.
He was referring to Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), director of the Taipei City Government’s Law and Regulation Commission, who represented Taipei in negotiations with the US search giant in the dispute.
The city slapped Google with a NT$1 million (US$34,632) fine on June 27 after a 15-day grace period.
The penalty was based on Google not offering Taiwanese consumers a seven-day refund mechanism as mandated by the Consumer Protection Act, which requires at least seven days of free trial for products purchased over the Web.
Google suspended its paid apps offerings on the Android Market in Taiwan the same day it received the fine — a move that Carter said was “to comply with the government’s request.”
The company yesterday said it would appeal the fine and had notified the city government the suspension would continue while it pursues clarification of the law via Taiwan’s legal system.
“The bottom line is: Google respects Taiwanese law,” the statement read.
“In the meantime, Taiwanese users can still enjoy free apps on Android Market while developers can continue to sell their apps around the world. We hope to bring paid apps back to Android’s many users and developers in Taiwan as soon as the law allows us,” the statement read.
The dispute came as Google subscribes to the stance that its 15-minute trial window for a refund is sufficient and that it has to protect developers’ interests.
“Purchasing apps isn’t the same as buying other types of goods online,” Carter said. “When you get a newspaper delivered through the mail, you wouldn’t expect to read and then return it for a 50 cent refund at the end of the week. You need to wait for a book or a dress you’ve bought to arrive by post, but apps are delivered over the air instantly — you can try them out as soon as you’ve downloaded them.”
Google said it has other refund mechanisms in place to strike a balance between the interests of users and “450,000 developers who build apps for Android Market” and “to help them manage their businesses effectively.”
Some Taiwanese developers, in Google’s own words, feel that Taipei’s proposal for a seven-day trial “would impair their ability to build creative and innovative apps.”
Other refund mechanisms after the 15-minute window include the option to contact the developer directly using Google Checkout’s Purchase History page, and if it bears no fruit, then the app user could file a request to Google via Android Market Support.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said it would give Google two more weeks to reach its final decision. It didn’t state whether it would impose further penalties on Google if the eventual answer was “no.”
“Android Market is an open platform. Apps being sold there don’t need certification and consumers may end up paying for an app that doesn’t live up to what it claims,” Yeh said in a statement. “We will continue to talk to Google to create a ‘triple-win’ for Google, consumers and developers.”
Apple Inc, the maker of iPhones and iPads, on Thursday revised its App Store’s terms and conditions of purchase, giving Taiwanese consumers a seven-day trial period.
Taipei said the move made Taiwan the world’s first and only market to have such a privilege.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS