The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) 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 sentenced the defendants to 18 months in prison and confiscated more than TWD 58.8 million (approx. USD$1.97 million) 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 (USD$133,000 per month) from advertising. Authorities also estimated that the 8maple site had caused TWD $ 1 billion (USD$33.3 million) 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.
Further reading
Taiwan busts biggest piracy movie website 8maple.ru. Article. April 9, 2020. Sophia Yang, Taiwan News
Operators of Taiwan’s Largest Piracy Network Face 18-month Prison Term and Confiscation of Almost USD$2 Million. Press release. April 11, 2023. Alliance for Creativity and Media
Why it matters
“The deterrent sentence is testament to the seriousness of the crime,” said Jan van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and Head of ACE. “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.”
