Music and Film

Taiwan has stepped up its effort to reduce music and film piracy by strengthening criminal sentences for optical disk (OD) piracy, providing police and customs officials with broader authority to conduct raids of factories and retail operations, and promoting public awareness of the importance of intellectual property to Taiwan's economy.  In response to these efforts, however, pirates have shifted their operations away from traditional methods of production and distribution such as factories, warehouses, and night-market retail sales.  Increasingly, illegal copying occurs through "burn to order" operations, online sales of pirated CDs, DVDs, and VCDs, Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing, and Internet streaming and downloading. 

In December 2003, Taiwan authorities indicted two online P2P music websites, Kuro and EzPeer, for allegedly providing users with the ability to download unlicensed MP3 files.  Both websites charge users monthly fees for unlimited downloading of all types of files, including music and film clips.  The International Intellectual Property Alliance's (IIPA) 2005 Special 301 Report claims that together, these websites generated approximately U.S. $31.6 million in revenues in 2004.  This would constitute roughly twenty percent of the legitimate music industry's annual income.  As of the date of this publication, the case has not gone to trial, and both websites continue to operate without restrictions.

Taiwan is the world's largest producer of blank OD products.  The International Intellectual Property Alliance alleges that Taiwan manufacturers sell blank OD products to criminal organizations in Latin America and other parts of the world knowing that the products will be used to create intellectual property infringing goods.

Pharmaceuticals

In March 2004, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed welcome amendments to the Pharmaceutical Law, increasing penalties for anyone convicted of manufacturing, transporting or selling counterfeit pharmaceutical products.  Nevertheless, the International Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers Association (IRPMA) and local representatives of multinational pharmaceutical companies believe as much as fifty percent of some popular pharmaceuticals, and twenty-five percent of all pharmaceutical products sold on the Taiwan market may be counterfeit or unlicensed.  A large raid in July 2004 netted thousands of doses of counterfeit pharmaceutical products, allegedly smuggled to Taiwan from Mainland China, but with packaging produced in Taiwan to make these counterfeit products appear to be parallel imports.  The Taiwan Department of Health, while ostensibly having the responsibility to combat pharmaceutical counterfeiting, does not have its own enforcement capabilities and relies on the Ministry of Justice to conduct enforcement actions.     

Books, Journals, and Other Copyrighted Publications

Illegal reproduction of printed materials, particularly textbooks and academic journals, is endemic on Taiwan's college campuses and surrounding areas.  Photocopying stores can be found both on and off campuses, providing illegal copying services to students at a low cost.  Such shops often copy entire textbooks, resulting in significant losses to both foreign and domestic publishers.  Recently, raids have been conducted against photocopying shops at the request of publishers.  However, further actions are necessary to reduce these practices, including raids, public awareness campaigns, and greater cooperation between police and universities. 

Business Software

Business software piracy rates have declined significantly since peaking in 2000, but have remained at 43 percent for the past three years.  The Business Software Alliance (BSA) attributes the improvement to successful court judgments against corporate end-users as well as support from Taiwan authorities for training and piracy awareness campaigns.  Taiwan Minister of Economic Affairs, Ho Mei Yueh, announced in 2005 that MOEA would take action to reduce the business software piracy rate year by year until it reaches developed country levels.  Taiwan's business software piracy rate remains relatively low for Asian countries.  Only Japan and Singapore have lower rates.

Nonetheless, Taiwan remains a center for counterfeit business software.  Although much of the production has been transferred to offshore factories, counterfeiters are suspected of continuing to maintain operations centers in Taiwan.  In recent years, Taiwan authorities have conducted successful raids against software counterfeiters, most of which belong to criminal syndicates that operate on a global scale.  Because counterfeiters belong to complex international networks and can easily relocate operations within the island and overseas, preventing long-term infringements will remain a serious challenge for Taiwan.

Entertainment Software and Video Game Cartridges

Although overall piracy rates for entertainment software are dropping due to increased enforcement of OD-related laws, pirated console and cartridge-based video games remain widely available in Taiwan's Internet cafes, through online "warez" stores, and in shops that provide customers with "burn to order" pirated video games.   Police regularly raid shops selling pirated entertainment software, however, locating online infringers is an increasingly difficult task.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) 2005 Special 301 Report claims that pirated console-based games are produced in both Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, where Taiwan factory owners control local production and arrange for illegal import to Taiwan.  The report states that China, however, remains Taiwan's main supplier of pirated game cartridges, many of which are produced using pirated components manufactured in Taiwan.  In 2005, Taiwan abolished its Export Monitoring System and turned responsibility for intercepting shipments of pirated game cartridges to Taiwan Customs authorities. 

Additional Resources

Information on organizations, government agencies, and law firms handling IPR-related issues is available on this website.