Taiwan pirates face prison term, confiscation
April 12, 2023
By Colin Mann
Anti-piracy coalition the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has applauded the sentencing of Chen Su and Zhuang Su, operators of the infamous 8maple network of piracy sites. In one of the lengthiest sentences handed down for criminal copyright cases, the Taoyuan District Court in Taiwan sentenced the defendants to 18 months in prison and confiscated more than TWD 58.8 million (€1.8m) in illicit gains.
Prior to the enforcement action, the domain 8maple.ru attracted more than 30 million visits per month and generated an estimated TWD 4 million per month from advertising. Authorities also estimated that the 8maple site had caused TWD 1 billion in financial damage to the Taiwanese and international entertainment industry. To avoid detection by Taiwanese authorities, the site maintained 25 servers in five different countries: France, Ukraine, Romania, the United States and Canada. The site had been previously blocked in Malaysia, Australia and Singapore.
“I’d like to congratulate the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Taoyuan District Prosecutor’s Office for the successful prosecution of the 8maple operators,” said Jan van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and Head of ACE. “The deterrent sentence is testament to the seriousness of the crime. The 8maple prosecution is another example of ACE’s effective partnerships with the local video industry and law enforcement and strengthens our commitment to reducing piracy and protecting the global legal ecosystem for creative content.”