Copyright in Taiwan

Copyright in Taiwan

Introduction

The economic structure of Taiwan has been undergoing rapid changes in the recent thirty years. Taiwan has moved offshore from a labor-intensive industrialized country to an export-oriented economy. With the concentration of capital and technology, and the rapid diversification of hi-tech professional services, the structure of Taiwan industries has also changed greatly since late 1970s. The total annual production value accounted for by technology intensive industries has increased from 60 percent in mid 1980s to 75 percent in mid 1990s. These figures are a clear indication of successful liberation and internationalization of Taiwan economy as a whole.

With the advanced technology and mass production of the computer hardware and software, new problems created for society by computer arose. In addition, as the cost of computer hardware declined, the importance of software increased: software is where the action and the money are these days. The total world market for software is now approaching $100 billion a year. Partly as a result, copying computer programs, often referred as software piracy, has become a major growth industry.

At the core of the global copyright problem, Taiwan is one of the “king” of software piracy in Asia. The Business Software Association estimates that U.S. software companies lose over $800 million a year because of Taiwan software piracy. The newest threat to the software and multimedia industries in Taiwan is the use of computers and the internet to illegally digitize and copy information, including software, music, and movies. With the growth of Internet users populations, it has created a market for pirated products by making illegal copies of the latest software programs, music, and movies available to anyone with a computer, anywhere in the world, at the click of a mouse. Other ways to trade copyright material, such as peer to peer sharing, have also challenged copyright law.

Adequate Intellectual Property Right (IPR) protection is a vital element in the development of high technology, high value-added production, and the professional services. The government of Taiwan is fully aware of this fact. They understand that they must make revisions to its current copyright laws in order to strengthen the degree to which IPR is protected in Taiwan. Over the years, Taiwan government has made progress, the Patent Law has undergone two revisions, the Trademark Law three revisions, and the Copyright Law five revisions. As for enforcement, apart from increasing the penalties for infringement of rights and increasing the power of Customs officials to inspect suspected counterfeit shipments, the MOEA has also created the Anti-Counterfeiting Committee with responsibility for processing charges of piracy.