March 2023 in Taiwan, the Telecommunications Investigation Corp of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior (NPA) and the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Second Special Police Corps (IPR Police), NPA raids in Yilan County, Taichung City, and other areas and arrested four suspects who were illegally providing Japanese and other broadcast programs through the illegal TV viewing application “熊愛影視APP”. In addition, in August, they raided the base of a criminal organization that was illegally providing signals of Japanese and other broadcast programs for the Illicit Streaming Device (ISD) “小雲機上盒” and arrested seven suspects.
In response, CIB held a press conference on the two incidents at its headquarters in Taipei on September 27, which attracted a large number of media, including local TV stations.
The suspects arrested for developing and selling the illegal TV viewing application “熊愛影視APP” were stealing broadcast signals from legitimate set-top boxes and illegally providing broadcast programs from Taiwan, Singapore, the US, Japan, and other countries to viewers. The app allowed users to watch all channels in the app for one-fifth the price of a regular set-top box, and could be installed on any device running the Android OS. The damage is estimated at more than NT$1.81 billion (approximately ¥8.35 billion) in initial estimates.
In connection with this revelation, CODA, at the request of the investigating agency, confirmed the infringement of Japanese broadcast program rights with the cooperation of a member company, and the said member company filed a criminal complaint with the Yilan District Public Prosecutors Office in July.
The ISD “小雲機上盒” was uncovered in April 2023 through an IFACT-GC* investigation, which led to its investigation and detection by the CIB and the IPR Police, and the investigation has been ongoing since then.
The press conference was attended by Huang, Ming-Chao, Director-General of the NPA, and Chou, Yew-Woei, Commissioner of the CIB. From CODA, Masaharu Ina, Director of Overseas Copyright Protection participated in the press conference and in his opening remarks, thanked the CIB and the IPR Police for its ongoing efforts to protect Japanese content, including the recent seizure, and asked for further cooperation and support in the future.
CODA has been conducting “Joint Enforcement” against copyright infringement overseas since 2005. In the investigation of Internet crimes in Taiwan (ISD, illegal apps, infringing websites, etc.), we have conducted numerous exposures with the cooperation of the Telecommunications Investigation Corp under the command of the CIB and the IPR Police.
CODA will continue to strengthen cooperation with Taiwanese enforcement agencies and continue to take effective measures against infringement to protect the intellectual property rights of Japanese content in the local market.
* IFACT-GC is a private research agency with which CODA has a business alliance and whose mission is to protect intellectual property rights throughout Greater China.
(translated by automatic translation system)
■About the CODA project “Joint Enforcement”
https://coda-cj.jp/en/activity/enforcement/
■Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) Home page
https://www.cib.npa.gov.tw/
■IFACT-GC Home page
https://www.ifact-gc.org/
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About CODA
CODA (Content Overseas Distribution Association) was established in 2002 at the call of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Agency for Cultural Affairs to promote the overseas development of Japanese content and take anti-piracy measures. Japan’s proud content, including music, movies, anime, broadcast programs, video games, and publishing, plays an important role in enhancing the nation’s international presence and economic growth. As digital technology becomes more widespread, it is even more significant to protect Japan’s content from increasingly artful copyright infringement and promote the content industry’s development. CODA contributes to the deterrence and detection of online and other piracy, by sharing knowledge with relevant government agencies, organizations, and companies in Japan and abroad, to engage in direct and indirect anti-piracy measures, as well as public relations activities. Visit https://coda-cj.jp/en/activity/ for more information on CODA’s projects.