Annotated Republic of China Laws/Copyright Act/Article 91-1

Newly adopted and promulgated on 2003-07-09

 * Article 91-1
 * A person who, with intent to profit, infringes on the economic rights of another person by distributing the original of a work or a copy thereof by transfer of ownership shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years, detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto a fine not more than seven hundred and fifty thousand New Taiwan Dollars.
 * A person who, without intent to profit, infringes on the economic property rights of another person by distributing the original of a work or a copy thereof by transfer of ownership, or by publicly displaying or possessing it with intent to distribute, where the number distributed exceeds five, or where the total amount of infringement calculated by the market value of lawful copies of the work at the time of seizure exceeds thirty thousand New Taiwan Dollars, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years, detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto a fine of not more than five hundred thousand New Taiwan Dollars.
 * A person who commits the offense in paragraph 1, where the infringing copy is an optical disk, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years, detention, or in addition thereto a fine of not more than one million and five hundred thousand New Taiwan Dollars.
 * Punishment of an offense in the preceding paragraph may be reduced if the offender confesses the source of the goods, resulting in the uncovering thereof.

Promulgated amendment on 2004-09-01

 * Article 91-1
 * A person who infringes on the economic rights of another person by distributing the original of a work or a copy thereof by transfer of ownership without authorization shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years, detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto, a fine not more than five hundred thousand New Taiwan Dollars.
 * A person who distributes or with intent to distribute publicly displays or possesses a copy knowing that it infringes on economic rights shall be imprisoned not more than three years and, in addition thereto, may be fined not less than seventy thousand and not more than seven hundred and fifty thousand New Taiwan Dollars.
 * A person who commits the offense in the preceding paragraph and the infringing copy is optical disk shall be imprisoned not less than six months and not more than three years and, in addition thereto, may be fined not less than two hundred thousand and not more than two million New Taiwan Dollars; provided, this shall not apply to optical disks imported in violation of subparagraph 4 of Article 87.
 * Punishment of an offense in the preceding two paragraphs may be reduced if the offender confesses the source of the goods, resulting in the uncovering thereof.