MUMBAI: Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigation, Ministry of Justice (MJIB) raided the well-known pirate P2P website Hip2p.com operating out of Taipei. The MJIB, acting on information provided by the Taiwan Foundation Against Copyright Theft (TFACT) representing the Motion Picture Association (MPA) used Taiwan’s recently strengthened Copyright Law to carry out this action. The operator, a 34 year old male was arrested at his office and his computer was seized.

The raid on Hip2p came hot on the heels of a raid a week earlier by the MJIB against a similar pirate P2P website, Kupeer.com. Both sites provided P2P programs on their platforms that allowed users to quickly download the thousands of pirated movies they offered. In the case of Kupeer.com, the MJIB arrested the website operator, a 30 year old man and seized the computer server used. The website was immediately shut down after the raid.

Both operators face a sentence of up to two years and/or a maximum fine of $15,000.

The two raids were made possible by amendments to Taiwan’s Copyright Law that clarified liability against websites who induce others to indulge in copyright infringement. This was a provision that was missing in earlier P2P website infringement cases, such the one against ezPeer. The changes, made in June 2007, essentially provide inducement liability and are similar to a codification of the US Grokster decision into Taiwanese law.

MJIB investigator Hsiao Chih-Chung, who led the raid, said, “The changes in the law have definitely made our job much easier. When we go after pirate P2P websites or for that matter any pirate that encourages mass copyright theft by others, it is good to know that the law is on our side. We will continue to target these illegal websites until they are all taken down.”

“The amendments to the Copyright Law ensure that website operators who induce others to indulge in piracy are accountable for their actions. The changes clearly show Taiwan’s commitment to protecting the creative industries. We are also delighted to see such an immediate application from MJIB and look forward to working with them on shutting down website number 3,” said Motion Picture Association senior vice president and regional director, Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis.