IPR Police Uncover 2nd Major P2P Internet Infringement Case in 2006

Following an informant report, Taiwan’s IPR Police successfully uncovered copyright infringement via the Music King website on April 14, 2006. The Music King website was providing approximately 500,000 songs for illegal downloads, and had been about to collect fees from its membership of 100,000.

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and IPR Police investigations show, that using software to disguise direct downloads from servers as member searches, Music King members can download one song every 40 seconds, at four times the speed of conventional P2P downloading. Each member can download an estimated 2,000 songs, or 200-plus albums, per day, causing great injury to the rights of local record companies.

To safeguard the legal rights of local record companies, the IPR Police was quick to collect evidence for the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. On April 14, 2006, the IPR Police and IFPI raided five Shijhih City (Taipei County) locations, arresting three suspects and seizing the seven servers used to replicate hundreds of thousands of songs, which were then turned over to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.