The National Police Agency (NPA) announced yesterday that it had cracked nearly 500 cases in which intellectual property rights had been violated, seizing fake and pirated gear worth NT$640 million (US$20 million) in just four days.
The NPA said that police had scoured business centers, night markets, factories, warehouses and container terminals for fake products and pirated goods from Monday through Thursday last week. In all, police cracked 488 cases and arrested 581 suspects, the NPA said.
Police also busted a Web site known as SKYBT, which provided members with illegal movie and music downloads, and arrested its Webmaster, surnamed Lin.
Lin told police that he had originally been a member of the SKYBT community, but had been invited to take over the running of the site earlier this year because of all the assistance he had offered the site's creator.
The Web site had 130,000 members and made approximately 160 music CDs available for download, including the latest pop music, police said. More than 300 new movies were also available.
Police said Lin would be charged with violation of copyright law and that they were looking for the creator of the illegal site.
The NPA said it believed the four-day crackdown would deter perpetrators from committing further crimes and added that the protection of intellectual property rights was crucial to the nation's image.
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