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FM AIT TAIPEI
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RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 000017 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS USTR 
STATE FOR EAP/TC, EAP/EP 
USTR FOR RAGLAND AND ALTBACH 
USDOC FOR 4430/ITA/MAC/AP/OPB/TAIWAN 
USDOC FOR USPTO GIN, BROWNING, AND SNYDOR 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KIPR ETRD PGOV TW
SUBJECT:  Taiwan IPR: Campus Enforcement Improves, MOE Action Plan 
to Continue 
 
REFTELS: 
 
A) 2001 Taipei 1681 
B) 2004 Taipei 533 
C) 2006 Taipei 562 
D) 2006 Taipei 4007 
E) 2004 Taipei 3953 
F) 2007 Taipei 2529 
G) 2007 Taipei 2595 
H) 2008 Taipei 1655 
I) 2008 Taipei 8 
J) 2008 Taipei 49 
K) 2008 Taipei 1318 
L) 2008 Taipei 745 
M) 2007 Taipei 2005 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) The Taiwan Ministry of Education (MOE) will indefinitely 
continue its Campus Intellectual Property (IP) Action Plan. The 
Plan's requirements and incentives are spurring schools to increase 
enforcement efforts, and the MOE is helping schools to implement 
best practices across Taiwan.   Rightsholders report infringement on 
the pan-island university intranet, the Taiwan Academic Network 
(TANet), is down from 2008, and confirm the MOE continues to 
cooperate in tracking and punishing unauthorized file-sharing. 
Rightsholder groups, however, still report widespread use of pirated 
or unlicensed software. Although on-campus textbook copying and 
other physical infringement appear to have continued their 
decade-long decline, rightsholders report widespread off-campus 
textbook piracy. End summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Taiwan's teachers and administrators have traditionally 
viewed campuses as havens from normal law enforcement.  Universities 
rarely refer students to the police or prosecutors' offices for 
non-violent crimes, including intellectual property rights (IPR) 
violations, and prosecutors are wary of taking action against such 
problems.  The last major crack-down on campus piracy--an attempt in 
2001 by the Tainan District Prosecutors Office to prosecute 14 
students at National Chengkung University for sharing MP3 files (ref 
A)--set off a strong reaction from administrators, students, and the 
Taiwan public, and led to the reassignment of the prosecutors 
involved. Unauthorized textbook copying and digital piracy, 
therefore, remained common on Taiwan's campuses (refs B, C, D, and 
E). 
 
¶3. (SBU)  After an initial suggestion from the United States led to 
several rounds of consultations with campus representatives, the MOE 
initiated the Campus IP Action Plan in early 2007, and began 
implementing the Plan in November of that year (ref F).  Under the 
Plan, the MOE has introduced new IPR-related requirements and 
targets for Taiwan universities, and publicly grades each 
university's performance on numerous metrics in order to promote 
best practices and shame less successful schools into taking more 
action. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Plan--originally intended to run for three years 
through the end of 2009--led universities to take tangible steps to 
deal more seriously with IPR (refs G and H). The MOE, therefore, 
encouraged by schools' improvements under the Plan, and spurred by 
continual U.S. engagement, decided in November 2009 to continue the 
Plan indefinitely. 
 
Rightsholders Pleased with MOE Cooperation 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) During the Plan's first year, rightsholder groups, 
including the Taiwan Book Publishers' Association (TBPA), the 
Business Software Alliance (BSA), the Recording Industry Foundation 
in Taiwan (RIT, formerly the Taiwan International Federation of the 
Phonographic Industry), and the Taiwan Foundation Against Copyright 
Theft (TFACT), complained the MOE did not meet regularly with 
rights- holders, did not seem interested in cooperating closely with 
them in implementing the Plan (refs I, J), and did not respond in 
detail to rights-holder reports on possible copyright violations on 
TANet (ref K). 
 
¶6. (SBU) However, MOE-industry cooperation improved during the 
plan's second year (ref H), and representatives from all four major 
 
TAIPEI 00000017  002 OF 003 
 
 
rightsholder groups tell us that smooth communication and 
cooperation with the MOE continued over 2009.  BSA Taiwan head Gina 
Tsai recently told econoff that BSA's Singapore-based regional 
management is pleased with the results of the MOE's Action Plan, and 
has been impressed by participating universities' IP enforcement 
improvements under the Plan. Tsai noted that the Plan is working 
much better now than it was two years ago, and said BSA is urging 
MOE to shift its focus from IP enforcement to helping university 
administrators, professors, and students understand how to protect 
their own intellectual property. 
 
Digital Piracy Down on TANet 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) University administrators tell us that the MOE Computer 
Center regularly gives them industry requests to remover violating 
material from TANet. BSA's Tsai, RIT CEO Robin Lee, and TFACT head 
Spencer Yang confirm that the MOE responds quickly to rightsholder 
requests to remove violating material from TANet.  Industry groups 
also confirm that MOE reports to rightsholder groups every six to 
eight weeks about TANet infringements complaints(ref L). 
 
¶8. (SBU) University administrators and rightsholder groups tell us 
that, although unauthorized file sharing and other digital piracy 
continues on TANet, MOE's actions have reduced TANet infringements. 
According to BSA Taiwan's Stella Lai, over the first ten months of 
2009, BSA sent 25-30 takedown notices per month to the MOE about 
possible infringing incidents on TANet, down from 50 per month in 
¶2008.  RIT's Lee recently told econoff that RIT sent 125 takedown 
notices to TANet administrators in 2008, but is only on pace to send 
36 in 2009, a 71-percent decline. 
 
¶9. (SBU) This drop in suspected cases of infringement on TANet 
contrasts well with the overall internet infringement situation: 
RIT has sent 2.4 percent more takedown notices to ISPs this year 
compared with 2008, and BSA has not seen any drop-off in the number 
of takedown notices sent through Taiwan ISPs to suspected users of 
unlicensed software. 
 
P2P Ban Extended 
---------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) In late November 2008, the MOE banned the use of 
peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software on TANet.  According to 
RIT's Lee, although universities have, in response to the MOE's 
directive, adopted measures to block access to unauthorized P2P 
software, RIT stills uncovers cases of illegal P2P file-sharing on 
TANet.  In addition, many universities in Taiwan have begun to 
contract out student dormitory internet service to commercial ISPs 
in order to preserve TANet bandwidth, a change that allows students 
to circumvent TANet P2P restrictions. In response to rightsholder 
complaints about on-campus commercial ISPs, during the latest Campus 
IP Action Plan taskforce meeting held on November 27, 2009, the MOE 
agreed to add a regulation banning the use of P2P software on 
commercial ISPs in university dormitories. 
 
¶11. (SBU) This ban, however, may not be enforceable in all cases. On 
December 29, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Intellectual 
Property Office (TIPO) Deputy Director General Margaret Chen told 
econoff that many universities have signed contracts with private 
ISPs to provide internet service in dormitories and other locations 
on campus. In such cases, the universities have the right to 
restrict users' access to P2P or other software applications. Chen 
said, however, that on campuses where students individually sign up 
and pay for internet service, Taiwan law would likely not allow 
schools to prohibit use of P2P services. 
 
Software Piracy Still a Problem 
------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) In contrast to the MOE's success in reducing violations on 
TANet, industry still reports widespread use of unlicensed or 
under-licensed software on Taiwan's campuses. On December 29, BSA's 
Tsai told econoff the Ministry is "failing to deal with campus 
software piracy." BSA member companies say through internet 
monitoring, software sales, student enrollment figures, and 
help-desk queries, the companies believe many universities either 
buy too few licenses for the number of students who use the 
software, or simply allow students to use pirated versions. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Although some BSA member companies, such as Microsoft, 
report that most copies of their software used on campuses in Taiwan 
are legitimate, Tsai said the majority of companies report 
 
TAIPEI 00000017  003 OF 003 
 
 
widespread under-licensing of software. Although BSA does not think 
the problem is any worse on campuses than it is among the general 
population (ref H), they are frustrated that the Ministry of 
Education is not more aggressive in dealing with the problem. 
 
¶14. (SBU) BSA is also frustrated that the police--out of respect for 
academic independence and fear of public backlash--will not go on 
campuses to investigate, but will instead ask universities to take 
action (ref H).  According to Tsai, however, the problem with 
enforcement on campuses is not just that police and prosecutors are 
hesitant to enforce IP laws, but also that most BSA member companies 
do not want to lose or alienate their customers--including future 
customers--by taking legal action against students or schools. 
 
Textbook Piracy Still Common 
---------------------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Although a 2007 survey showed that roughly half of college 
students still buy pirated versions of some books and supplementary 
materials (ref M), administrators at universities econoff visited 
during 2009 noted the problem of illegal textbook copying has almost 
disappeared at on-campus copy shops.  They also report off-campus 
copy shops are either more reluctant to copy textbooks in whole or 
in part, or have begun to refuse to copy more than a few pages of 
any one book. 
 
¶16. (SBU) The Taiwan Book Publishers' Association (TBPA), however, 
continues to report to us that the situation has not improved, but 
has merely gone underground.  According to TBPA's Theresa Liu, 
off-campus copy shops still take orders through on-campus 
representatives and standing student relationships, then deliver 
books directly to customers. Liu recently told econoff that some 
off-campus copy shops are "quite powerful" politically, and TBPA is 
therefore unable to convince prosecutors to authorize mid-semester 
raids against the shops. 
 
¶17. (SBU) TPBA does not have direct evidence to back up its claims 
of widespread textbook piracy. Police copy-shop raids at the 
beginning of the 2009 fall semester failed to turn up significant 
amounts of violating materials. To bolster TBPA's claims about 
rampant textbook piracy, the Association has asked Professor Hsieh 
Ming-yang of National Chengchi University to undertake another 
student survey to assess the scale of the piracy problem. Professor 
Hsieh's study will finish in early 2010. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) Taiwan's college campuses remain islands of laxer IPR 
enforcement in an improving IP environment. However, as 
rights-holders regularly point out to us, Taiwan's students are in 
most respects no worse than their peers in other developed 
economies. Although U.S. pressure initially spurred the MOE to 
launch the Campus IP Action Plan, the Ministry and Taiwan's schools 
have embraced the Plan, and related industry groups are pleased with 
Taiwan's actions against TANet piracy.  Continued 
progress--including enforcement of the internet service provider 
(ISP)-related amendments to the Copyright Act--will be key to 
further reducing digital piracy on Taiwan's campuses.  End comment.