Investigation Bureau shuts down Now.In, cites alleged copyright infringements

Hi there, 

I would like to post a news recently happened in Taiwan. This is a piracy issue like SOPA in USA. Now.in is a broadcast website which let people have their online radio station, but now is been investigated by Taiwan government. That's see what happened in this news.

posted by Evan

Reference link: Tech Orange Global 

The Taiwanese Internet radio startup Now.in has been shut down by the Investigation Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice, according to TechOrange. The site is currently down after investigators seized computers and other property at 10 AM on Friday. The TechOrange report states that Now.In are being investigated for alleged copyright abuses.

In November we wrote about reports that the music industry was unhappy about the scrappy startup, which won 2011 IDEAS Show in Taipei last August. It seems that the threats of legal measures by the music industry of Taiwan have come to fruition, and that a request that record companies consider cooperation rather than litigation, unsurprisingly, fell on deaf ears.

When contacted, Now.in CEO Ken Lin stated that he is in discussions with lawyers familiar with intellectual property rights. Since Now.in’s launch last year, the threat of legal action has been a topic of discussion for both the team and industry onlookers. 

After its victory at the IDEAS Show, the team attracted VC interest and subsequently taking part in Intel’s Global Challenge. The site proved extremely popular with people around the world, netting itself 300,000 users and attracting minor celebrities, football teams and others from places as far flung as Malaysia, Argentina and Germany.

It’s currently unclear if the Ministry of Justice chose to shut the site down in a preemptive move or because it had already been asked to do so by record companies. Also unclear is whether the Ministry of Justice will show willingness to mediate between the music industry and those trying to further it in Taiwan, rather than adding a further barrier to the many existing court cases and pieces of legislation that are attempting to block outright the innovation of the digital music format. As the story is still unfolding, the overall intention of Taiwan’s courts will become clear. We’ll keep you updated.