Import car dealer filed copyright suit; parallel importers indicted
E030617X3 Jul. 2003（E46）
The battle between the general agents of import cars and parallel importers is increasingly intense. The battlefield has extended from the sale of new cars to piracy of owner’s manual. In dissatisfaction with the parallel importers’ pirating the Chinese-language owner’s manual, DaimlerChrysler Taiwan recently filed an action charging parallel importers of copyright infringement, and the prosecutor has brought an indictment at the end of investigation. The indictment is believed to contribute to deterring parallel importers from further infringing other’s intellectual property rights.
DaimlerChrysler Taiwan expressed that according to the Consumer Protection Law, import goods sold in this country should have Chinese labeling and user’s manual. Parallel importers’ owner’s manual, which is directly photocopied, not a single word changed, from the Chinese-language Mercedes-Benz owner’s manual produced by DaimlerChrysler Taiwan in cooperation with Capital Motors Inc., Mercedes-Benz’s former general agent, after much capital and time spent, apparently has infringed DaimlerChrysler Taiwan’s copyright. The pirated versions of owner’s manual under seizure have been publicly destroyed.
DaimlerChrysler Taiwan expressed that according to the Consumer Protection Law, import goods sold in this country should have Chinese labeling and user’s manual. Parallel importers’ owner’s manual, which is directly photocopied, not a single word changed, from the Chinese-language Mercedes-Benz owner’s manual produced by DaimlerChrysler Taiwan in cooperation with Capital Motors Inc., Mercedes-Benz’s former general agent, after much capital and time spent, apparently has infringed DaimlerChrysler Taiwan’s copyright. The pirated versions of owner’s manual under seizure have been publicly destroyed.
