To tackle the worsening problem of copyright infringement via the internet, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan has passed an amendment to the Copyright Act based on safe-harbour practices adopted by other countries. The bill received its third reading on April 21.
According to the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, the passage of the bill gives copyright owners a quicker and more convenient means to resolve copyright infringement problems over the internet in addition to the conventional litigation procedure.
Copyright owners may claim their rights via judiciary proceedings, or they may follow the provisions in this ISP bill and notify the service provider to remove the infringing content or information. When a web user uses P2P technology to engage in infringement activities, the copyright owner may, via the service provider, send a notice to the IP address of that user warning him to refrain from infringement activities.
Internet service providers who act in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the bill may be exempted both from civil liability for alleged infringement to copyright owner and contractual liability to that alleged user. To take advantage of this safeharbour, service providers must, prior to providing their services, clearly inform users of the copyright protection measures they adopt, and also inform users that partial or complete termination of services will be carried out if they have three repeated alleged infringements.
Internet users been found by copyright owners to have violated copyright by uploading, posting, or using P2P to transmit unauthorised videos, music, or writings, as well as selling pirated goods over on line auction sites would have their infringing content removed by the service provider. Rights holders may still press charges against the users.
