Public prosecutors yesterday charged three Taipei vendors for making and selling illicit copies of Japanese adult videos and breaching anti-piracy laws after a business association representing Japan’s adult film industry filed a lawsuit in Taiwan earlier this year.
The three vendors, surnamed Chou (周), Yang (楊) and Chen (陳), are accused of beaching the Copyright Act (著作權法), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
The three had separate shops near Taipei’s Guanghua Market (光華商場) specializing in sales of Japanese adult videos.
The case was filed by Japan’s Intellectual Property Promotion Association (IPPA), which represents 240 Japanese adult video producers and distribution companies, after they discovered the sales of their products.
Police raided the three shops in July after the IPPA report and confiscated a 53,000 videos, mostly from Japan.
“Most of the videos were deemed of original creation, as they have directors with various designated screenplays and story plots, and have their own scripts with dialogues by actresses and actors,” prosecutors said.
“Directors instruct actors in accordance with a screenplay and script, and collaborate with camera crews. Therefore, these are original productions,” prosecutors said.
The IPPA’s Taipei office said they visited the three shops and found many pirated videos made by their member companies.
“If these were the originals, they would sell for the equivalent of at least NT$1,000 in Japan, but they were sold for NT$40 or NT$50 per copy. It is obvious they have infringed on our intellectual property rights, so we have asked Taiwanese police to handle the case,” it said.
The trio have previously been found guilty of offenses against sexual morality.
Police said the three admitted to selling adult videos, but said the products were not pirated copies, but were bought in Japan.
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