A comic artist has launched an online campaign against the government’s unauthorized use of copyrighted works after a recycling poster issued by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) appropriated images of Star Wars characters and other comic heroes.
Taipei Comic Artist Labor Union director Chung Meng-shun (鍾孟舜) launched a Facebook campaign against the alleged copyright infringement by government agencies, while calling on the government to partner more with local talent instead of using works by foreign artists.
A poster was issued by the EPA and the Pingtung Environmental Protection Bureau to promote recycling among festivalgoers at this year’s Spring Scream music festival using images that closely resemble characters in Star Wars, Deadpool and Batman.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
The incident, coupled with another event last month in which the Taiwan Railways Administration was criticized for allegedly plagiarizing Ant-Man in a passenger safety video, prompted Chung to launch the campaign.
“In the past, the government arrested people selling pirated DVDs at night markets. Now, it is the public exposing the government’s unauthorized use of copyrighted images on the Internet. People selling counterfeits have to pay large fines and even go to jail, but the government gets away with copyright infringement,” Chung said.
“Suspected plagiarism incidents by government agencies have been happening repeatedly and the government has spent a large amount of money on some unbearably ugly designs [such as the much derided monkey-shaped lantern at this year’s Taipei Lantern Festival]. The government has simply rejected plagiarism claims or turned a blind eye to these incidents, but such incidents will keep happening unless the government faces up to the problem,” he added.
The campaign urges the government to use creative works by Taiwanese artists to develop the nation’s cultural industries, which Chung said receive little government funding and attention. Local artists have been treated with indifference and disregard by fellow Taiwanese, he added.
The campaign aims to collect more than 10,000 signatures so that a petition can be presented to president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in the hope that the new government would give creative industries due respect.
Meanwhile, the EPA said yesterday it had ordered the controversial posters be removed and requested that the Pingtung Environmental Protection Bureau handle the issue and ascertain whether the copyright had been infringed.
The poster was designed by a subcontractor, the EPA said, adding that government agencies and subcontractors must take care to avoid plagiarism.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS