萬國法律事務所

In 2010 Sony began promoting its “DSC-TX9” and “DSC-WX5” cameras, which are sold at a price of approximately NT$ 10,000 in Taiwan. Sony posted an advertisement on the website “Mobile 01” as part of the promotion. Visitors of the website discovered that some of the sample pictures alleged to be taken with Sony’s new cameras were actually taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II5, a professional digital single lens reflex camera. This incidence caused excited discussion among the website users and many opined that Sony’s promotion was blatantly misleading.

Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission initiated the investigation upon the trustfulness of the advertisement. During the investigation, Sony claimed that the advertisement was made by its advertising agency and acknowledged that Sony did not exam the photos before they were used in the promotion and after this discovery, Sony made a public clarification statement. Nevertheless, the Fair Trade Commission still found that the sample photos constitute important information considered by consumers when choosing to purchase a camera, and thus, stated that Sony had violated Article 21-1 of the Fair Trade Act, which stipulates that false and misleading advertisements are subject to a fine in the amount of NT$ 150,000.