2010-04-05
District Court finds designer of p2p software guilty
The BanCiao District Court recently rendered a criminal judgment sentencing one and half years of imprisonment and a fine of NT$ 700,000 on the designer of the P2P software, FOXY, on the grounds of violation to the Copyright Act.
The Court found that the default setting of FOXY compels its users to share files online, thereby constituting an act of “public transmission” as set forth in the Copyright Act. Although FOXY itself does not copy files from its users, it provides a platform to the users for file transmission. The Court also found that by updating FOXY and making it more convenient to download files from other users, the designer of FOXY successfully increased the hit rate of his website and generated advertising revenues accordingly.
It is reported that the major multi-national entertainment companies, including Warner Brothers Records and Universal Records, have suffered losses of more than NT$ 5.8 billion due to the overrun of FOXY. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is expected to claim civil compensation from the designer of FOXY in the appeal stage and the damages which may be granted by the Court may break the current record, which is over NT$ 200 million.
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