Taiwanese publishers and consumers have increasingly fallen prey to unscrupulous e-commerce firms selling pirated publications, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday, adding that most of the orders were shipped from China.
Many who have bought best-sellers and popular titles online thought they were dealing with Taiwanese publishing companies, but instead received pirated copies with poor-quality print, paper and binding, DPP Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
DPP legislators Michelle Lin (林楚茵) and Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤), as well as representatives from Taiwan’s publishing industry organizations, also attended the news conference.
Photo: CNA
“We estimate that more than 100 publishing companies in Taiwan have been victims of piracy and suffered a lot of financial losses,” Association of Taipei Publishers chairman Chao Cheng-ming (趙政岷) said.
Publishers Association deputy chairman Steve Wu (吳政鴻) said the group had conducted an investigation and found that most of the pirated books were from foreign countries, mainly from China, and that most online order deliveries also originated from China.
The two groups called for a government crackdown to stop the proliferation of pirated books, uphold the Copyright Act (著作權法) and protect the rights of Taiwanese consumers.
“We ask that the government block these deliveries from overseas by establishing a specific window for monitoring and checking by airport and harbor authorities, while the Customs Administration should also set up a screening unit to stop these pirated books from entering Taiwan,” Wu added.
Data compiled from 2017 to June this year by Taiwan’s e-commerce associations showed auction firm Shopee topping the list for receiving the highest number of consumer complaints about receiving pirated books.
Saying it was a serious issue, Su said that government agencies, including the Consumer Protection Committee and the Intellectual Property Office, had been negligent.
“We demand these government agencies be more proactive and deal with the issue of book piracy with more resolve, instead of ignoring it and letting the problem get worse, which is hurting the local publishing industry,” Su said.
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