Newsletter
LIABILITIES OF ONLINE SHOPPING CENTERS FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Online shopping centers, auction websites and other Internet trading platforms or service providers have become highly popular channels for sale of goods. Whether their operators bear any liability for the sale of goods which infringe trademarks or copyrights or are otherwise illegal, or for illegal content in advertisements, is a highly controversial issue in practice.
In a summary judgment dated 24 December 2003 on a case brought in accordance with the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, the Taipei High Administrative Court held that, as the auction website provided a trading platform whereby users could input explanatory description and upload photographs, which could then be automatically displayed, the website operator naturally had a duty to exercise effective supervision and control. If through screening it was unable to detect and remove advertisements for tobacco products that had appeared on its trading platform for a period of several days, it had failed to exercise effective supervision and control of its trading platform, and should be liable for its negligence.
The Intellectual Property Court held a different view in its ruling of 22 January 2009 on a civil case concerning copyright infringement. The court indicated that it is not possible for online shopping centers to review, monitor and check whether each image infringed copyrights. Furthermore, copyright is protected upon creation under the Copyright Act. There is no database available which can be used to check whether the works are copyrightable or to identify the copyright owners. Accordingly, online shopping centers would not be aware of any copyright infringement until they receive the notification from the copyright owners. If the copyright owner never sends such notification, the online shopping centers should not bear any liability for infringement.
Given the divergent views on the liabilities of online shopping centers for Copyright infringement, amendments to the Copyright Act have been proposed to address the issue once and for all.