Sky-High Price for Piracy Infringement: It Was Judged That Jhong Di Should Pay NT$240,000,000 to Microsoft as Compensation, Which Set Up the Record of Compensation for Counterfeiting in Taiwan.

Taiwanese disk manufacturers’ involvement in cross-national piracy activity can date back to 1995. Jhong Di Technology Co. Ltd. (transliterated from 中帝科技股份有限公司), which was deemed as the originator of professional piracy in Taiwan at that time, was uncovered to be entrusted to press Microsoft’s two kinds of software packages totaling more than 80,000 sets from August 1995 to July 1996. This case, which once aroused global attention, was eventually finalized with the supreme court’s judgment after years of litigation. The responsible person of Jhong Di, Hu Jhong-Lin (胡鍾琳) was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and ten months and should pay the civil compensation in a huge sum of NT$ 240,000,000. Such judgment set up the highest compensation amount in the counterfeiting cases in Taiwan. (2003.12)

CYJ/CCS