Want China Times, CNA 2013-06-04
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| The head of Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office, Wang Mei-hua, center), holds a press conference to announce the office's plans. (Photo/CNA) |
Taiwan's
authorities in charge of intellectual property protection have decided to abort
a plan to block overseas internet services that violate copyright laws amid
opposition to the plan from free-speech advocates.
Wang
Mei-hua, head of the Intellectual Property Office under the country's Ministry
of Economic Affairs, announced the decision on Monday, and said the office's
plans would be adjusted.
Declaring
that the government would not set restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom
of access to information, Wang stressed her office "never intended to
challenge or acted to damage" the freedom of speech that Taiwan's people
worked so hard to acquire.
The plan,
first reported on May 21, would have allowed administrative agencies to play
the leading role in blocking overseas websites that are notorious for
file-sharing and other activities that violate digital content rights.
Though it
has abandoned the plan, the office still intends to discuss with judicial
agencies possible measures that can offer better protection to intellectual
property holders, the official said.
The
decision came after Wikimedia Taiwan, a non-profit social group, voiced strong
opposition on Saturday to the plan, which would have allowed the IPO to
determine which websites could be blocked rather than judicial authorities.
Currently,
intellectual property holders in Taiwan can directly inform internet service providers
to remove domestic websites found to have violated copyright laws, according to
Wang. But when confronting infringements by overseas websites, intellectual
property holders can only seek to defend their rights through the local
judiciary system, IPO officials said.
References:
Wang Mei-hua 王美花
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