Amendments to Articles 87 and 93 of the Copyright Act are promulgated on May 1 by the President Order and shall enter into force on May 3
2019/05/21 TaiwanDate Posted：2019-05-21
Amendments to Articles 87 and 93 of the Copyright Act are promulgated on May 1 by the President Order and shall enter into force on May 3
In recent years, some set-top boxes and APPs in the market have provided access to infringing websites for people to watch illicit audiovisual contents. Without authorization, the providers of these set-top boxes and APPs gain excessive profits by charging monthly fees or selling off the boxes at once. These have severely affected the interests of copyright holders and OTT service providers who acquired licensing from the copyright holders.
To curb malicious online infringement, Legislators proposed the draft amendments to Articles 87 and 93 of the Copyright Act. The draft was passed by the Legislative Yuan on April 16.
Upon amending the bill, manufactures, importers, and distributors of illegal set-top boxes, which pre-loaded with APPs linking to infringing contents, will face a sentence of up to two years imprisonment or detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto, a fine of not more than five hundred thousand New Taiwan Dollars. It is hoped that the amendments can help to curb online infringement, while facilitating the development of Taiwan’s creative and audio-visual industries.
For more information (Chinese), please click the following link:
https://www.tipo.gov.tw/dl.asp?filename=9511023963.pdf
Intellectual Property Office Ministry of Economic Affairs, R.O.C.
