Taiwan expects Copyright Act amendments

The Ministry of Economics Affairs (MOEA) announced last week that after several years of work, it would make substantial amendments to the Copyright Act by adding 32 more articles. The total number of articles in the Copyright Act will amount to 149 after the amendments. The amendment drafts will regulate the means of public broadcast and fair use more carefully. 

According to Radio Taiwan International, Taiwan’s Copyright Act has not been overhauled since 1998. This year, the government is going to revamp the act and will call a public hearing in the coming days to catch up with the digital era. 

Wang Mei-hua, director-general of the Intellectual Property Office, says that the music industry thinks playing CDs copyrighted for private use to create a better public environment is a means of making more profit, so music copyright holders should have the right to charge these businesses.