A Man Indicted for Persistent Acts of Litigation

A 39-year-old man surnamed Hong (“Hong”) is indicted for violating the Taiwan Attorney Regulation Act by his acts of instigating or soliciting suits.  Hong is not an eligible attorney, but has been engaged in the activity of purchasing pirated software products or pirated video-audio products online and then persuading the companies that hold copyright to these products into retaining him as the attorney to represent these companies to file complaints against infringers (sellers) and further to seek settlement with them.  If settlement negotiation turns out successful, Hong would share the settlement amount at a 50:50 ratio with the copyright holder company.  From year 2000 through 2012, there had been at least 60 cases in which Hong represented these copyright holder companies to reach a settlement with infringers, and the settlement amount in each case is about TWD20,000 to TWD50,000.  Hong’s foregoing act appears to be a gesture against piracy, but in fact, Hong had been overly officious in instigating lawsuits, for which Taichung District Prosecutors Office brought an indictment on him for violating the Taiwan Attorney Regulation Act. (April 2015) 
/CCS