Unknowing Taiwanese Book Company Fined Due to Chinese Publishing Company’s Illegal License.

  One state-run science & technology translation & publishing company (referred to as “company A”) plagiarized an article on pain management released by a Taiwanese doctor on the Internet, and then licensed a Taiwanese book company (referred to as “company B”) to publish such an article in Taiwan.  The said Taiwanese doctor filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement against company B; Panchiao District Court passed a judgment in favor of the said Taiwanese doctor and company B should pay to the said doctor NT$75,000 as compensation.

 

  Publishers in Taiwan are in an uproar over this judgment and become alerted to copyrights licensed by Chinese publishers.  According to company B’s statements, company A asserted the legality of the copyright and company B had no idea about the existence of the author, namely the said Taiwanese doctor when both sides signed an agreement.  Unexpectedly, company B finally became involved in a copyright infringement lawsuit after publication of this article.  Company B subsequently tried to claim damages against company A which just turned a deaf ear to the claim; company B was forced to settle this matter by monetary compensation.

 

  The said doctor released an article on pain management on the Taiwan Pain Management Website and on the homepage thereof expressly clarified that “Readers should mark the source when copying or publishing the content to avoid misunderstanding or prejudice.”  However, the said doctor in the bookstore discovered a book titled “Pain Relief” (literal translation of the Chinese book title: 疼痛不找你), which is highly identical to his article in wording, content, and even cases cited therein.  For such circumstance, the said Taiwanese doctor claimed damages against company B. (2006.07)

/CCS