The company of celebrity designer Demos Chiang (蔣友柏) was indicted yesterday for violating the Copyright Act (著作權法) after a painter claimed the company copied a design piece from his work.
Chiang said he would file a countersuit against the painter for making malicious accusations and intimidation.
Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted Chiang’s company, Dem Inc, and Su Yi-man (蘇尹曼), one of the company’s designers.
Prosecutors said Su was in charge of designing pictures for a wedding cake box for Danby Food Industry Co in which Su designed a swimming golden fish for the box. Painter Chen Yueh-cheng (陳玥呈) found the picture very similar to his work, published in 2005, and filed a suit against the company and Su.
Taipei prosecutors said Su’s design idea was likely derived from Chen’s painting.
Chiang dismissed Chen’s claim at a press conference yesterday afternoon and described prosecutors as “cultural hooligans” hampering Taiwan’s creative and cultural industries by asking the defendant, rather than the plaintiff, to present evidence and ignoring the evidence they presented.
“What we didn’t do is what we did not do. I will not pay any compensation. I am going to file a countersuit against [the plaintiff] for making false charges and intimidation and ask him to pay compensation of NT$5 million [US$159,000] on each count,” said Chiang, a great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
“In the beginning, Chen asked for NT$3 million in compensation and later increased that amount to NT$5 million. The prosecutors even urged me to close the case by paying him the compensation, saying that doing so could save administrative resources,” Chiang said.
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