Despite being indicted for copyright infringement, two online file-sharing Web sites announced yesterday that they plan to establish a peer-to-peer (P2P) association by the end of next year.
"Widely applying P2P technology beyond music file sharing is an irreversible trend, and Taiwan should not absent from this wave," James Chen (陳國華), chief executive officer of Kuro.com.tw (飛行網), told a press conference.
"We should find a solution to balance the new technology and its impact to existing industries, rather than destroying it," he said.
Kuro, the nation's largest online file-sharing site with 500,000 members, and Ezpeer.com.tw were indicted by prosecutors for violating the Copyright Law (著作權法) after the International Fed-eration of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) filed charges against them. IFPI filed charges against Kuro in September and against Ezpeer in August of last year.
IFPI, which represents 10 local and international record labels, claimed that such P2P sites allow subscribers to download and share music files without obtaining authorization from the copyright holders.
Both Kuro and Ezpeer charge subscribers a monthly fee. Kuro charges NT$99 while Ezpeer is NT$1 more.
The companies say Taiwan's courts should follow the lead of their counterparts in other countries, noting that US-based Grokster Ltd was found not liable for copyright infringement by the district court in Los Angeles this April.
Unlike Kuro and Ezpeer, however, Grokster does not use a centralized file sharing system. Information is transferred directly between users without the participation of any computers controlled or owned by the company.
Kuro and Ezpeer also offer a title directory for their members, a service which is also considered key to their indictments.
Kuro and Ezpeer had offered to pay compensation to the record labels, but the offer was rejected.
Reaching a profit-distribution formula acceptable to both parties is still the best solution to the case, Chen said yesterday.
"I'm 100 percent sure that we will win the case, because we only provide a platform for users to swap their files -- we don't illegally distribute them," Chen said.
IFPI Taiwan secretary-general Robin Lee (李瑞斌) is also confident of winning the copyright war.
"We don't oppose P2P, but we do oppose manipulators who use the technology to infringe upon our rights," Lee said. "We are discussing granting online music distribution rights with a total of seven companies who are willing to gain authorization before allowing users to share their files."
Prospective online-file operators include iBIZ Entertainment Technology Corp (艾比茲娛樂科技), Hinet and Acer Inc, Lee said.
iBIZ is an arm of Era Communications Co (年代網際 事業), which said last month that it would launch its online music downloading service by the end of the year.
The lawsuits appear to have had limited impact on Kuro and Ezpeer. Kuro lost 1,800 subscribers, Chen said, while Ezpeer president Weber Wu (
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he