Taiwan yesterday vowed to continue the fight to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) despite a recommendation that the US keep Taiwan on its piracy list for another year.
"We will continue to crack down on violations of IPR. This will not be affected if Taiwan is removed from, or is kept on, the Special 301 watch list," Jack Lu (盧文祥), deputy director of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office said.
Lu said he was surprised that the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has recommended that Taiwan be kept on the Special 301 watch list for another year as the Motion Picture Association of America's representative in Taiwan is satisfied with Taipei's efforts to counter piracy.
"We are trying to find out what data IIPA used to make the recommendation," he said.
IIPA, a grouping of seven trade associations representing 1,900 US firms in the high-tech, entertainment and publishing industries, on Monday recommended to the US Trade Representative that Taiwan be kept on the 301 list for another year due to the alarming increase in internet piracy in Taiwan.
From 2001 through January 2005 Taiwan was listed on the more severe priority watch list but by taking active measures graduated to the 301 watch list.
IIPA said in a report that Internet piracy "has become the predominant form of piracy for most industries in Taiwan."
The group estimates that US firms lost US$376.9 million last year as a result of piracy in Taiwan, mainly in the entertainment software and motion picture industries. While that was well below the record US$847.9 million IIPA estimated that US firms lost in 2002, it is up from the US$320.4 million figure for 2004.
The IIPA said Taiwan needs to respond to the rapidly increasing instances of internet piracy, especially through unauthorized peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services.
Taiwan's active steps to protect IPR in recent years include amending laws and launching the 220-strong IPR police force. They conducted 4,933 raids and cracked 1,593 cases of IPR violations last year.
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