TAIWAN – The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today applauds 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.
“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.”
About The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market and reducing digital piracy. Driven by a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy through criminal referrals, civil litigation and cease-and-desist operations, ACE has achieved many successful global enforcement actions against illegal streaming services and sources of unauthorized content and their operators. Drawing upon the collective expertise and resources of more than 50 media and entertainment companies around the world and reinforced by the content protection operations of the Motion Picture Association, ACE protects the creativity and innovation that drive the global growth of core copyright and entertainment industries. The current governing board members for ACE are Amazon, Apple TV+, NBCUniversal, Netflix Studios LLC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Warner Bros. Charles Rivkin is Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE. For more information, please visit www.alliance4creativity.com.
Media Contacts
Pamela Corante – Vice President, Global Communications
Pamela_corante@motionpictures.org
Stephen Jenner – Vice President, Communications – Asia Pacific
Stephen_Jenner@motionpictures.org
