Asia IP

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has decided not to pursue a Copyright Act amendment designed to block foreign websites with infringing content.

TIPO had proposed an amendment to the Copyright Act on May 21, 2013, with the purpose of efficiently, through administrative measures, blocking foreign infringing websites.

The amendment stated that without waiting for the final court decisions, TIPO would be entitled to initiate a meeting upon the requests of the copyright owner or its exclusive licensee and to invite representatives from the Judicial Yuan (the authority in charge of judicial matters), the Ministry of Justice, representatives from the copyright owners, the internet service provider representatives, scholars and experts in the copyright field for discussions. TIPO would be the enforcing authority to block websites, and its actions would be more efficient than litigation or any other judicial actions. 

Nonetheless, the proposal raised concerns from the public of hindering freedom of speech and distribution of information. “TIPO responded that whether or how the website should be blocked should be determined by public prosecutor and the court judges after they review and try the cases,” says Ruey-Sen Tsai, a partner at Lee and Li in Taipei.

The full content of the websites which involve copyright piracy will be blocked. “If websites are blocked, they will be blocked entirely; not just the infringing sections,” Tsai tells Asia IP.

Authorities do not have jurisdiction over foreign websites and are not entitled to order the infringers in foreign jurisdiction to cease operation. “TIPO’s previous proposal was designed to specifically block foreign websites, including those in China, so that no one in Taiwan will have access to them,” says Tsai.

No fines or imprisonments will be available against the activities conducted overseas. “But once any uploading or downloading of the infringed content is conducted in Taiwan, the copyright owner or its exclusive licensee is entitled to file civil and/or criminal litigation with the court against the uploaders or downloaders,” says Tsai.

Although the amendment has been dropped, public hearings will still be held for other draft amendments.