The dispute between Google Inc and the Taipei City Government continued yesterday as the world’s top search engine giant said it disagreed with Taipei’s interpretation of a local law and that it would continue to suspend paid apps offerings on its Android Market in Taiwan.
“We continue to disagree with the chairman’s interpretation of the Consumer Protection [Act, 消費者保護法] (which was originally intended to protect consumers ordering physical goods by [postal] mail),” Android policy counsel Kenneth Carter said in a statement.
He was referring to Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), director of the Taipei City Government’s Law and Regulation Commission, who represented Taipei in negotiations with the US search giant in the dispute.
The city slapped Google with a NT$1 million (US$34,632) fine on June 27 after a 15-day grace period.
The penalty was based on Google not offering Taiwanese consumers a seven-day refund mechanism as mandated by the Consumer Protection Act, which requires at least seven days of free trial for products purchased over the Web.
Google suspended its paid apps offerings on the Android Market in Taiwan the same day it received the fine — a move that Carter said was “to comply with the government’s request.”
The company yesterday said it would appeal the fine and had notified the city government the suspension would continue while it pursues clarification of the law via Taiwan’s legal system.
“The bottom line is: Google respects Taiwanese law,” the statement read.
“In the meantime, Taiwanese users can still enjoy free apps on Android Market while developers can continue to sell their apps around the world. We hope to bring paid apps back to Android’s many users and developers in Taiwan as soon as the law allows us,” the statement read.
The dispute came as Google subscribes to the stance that its 15-minute trial window for a refund is sufficient and that it has to protect developers’ interests.
“Purchasing apps isn’t the same as buying other types of goods online,” Carter said. “When you get a newspaper delivered through the mail, you wouldn’t expect to read and then return it for a 50 cent refund at the end of the week. You need to wait for a book or a dress you’ve bought to arrive by post, but apps are delivered over the air instantly — you can try them out as soon as you’ve downloaded them.”
Google said it has other refund mechanisms in place to strike a balance between the interests of users and “450,000 developers who build apps for Android Market” and “to help them manage their businesses effectively.”
Some Taiwanese developers, in Google’s own words, feel that Taipei’s proposal for a seven-day trial “would impair their ability to build creative and innovative apps.”
Other refund mechanisms after the 15-minute window include the option to contact the developer directly using Google Checkout’s Purchase History page, and if it bears no fruit, then the app user could file a request to Google via Android Market Support.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said it would give Google two more weeks to reach its final decision. It didn’t state whether it would impose further penalties on Google if the eventual answer was “no.”
“Android Market is an open platform. Apps being sold there don’t need certification and consumers may end up paying for an app that doesn’t live up to what it claims,” Yeh said in a statement. “We will continue to talk to Google to create a ‘triple-win’ for Google, consumers and developers.”
Apple Inc, the maker of iPhones and iPads, on Thursday revised its App Store’s terms and conditions of purchase, giving Taiwanese consumers a seven-day trial period.
Taipei said the move made Taiwan the world’s first and only market to have such a privilege.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS