Taiwanese ultramarathon runner gets 10 months for copyright trolling

Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) The Taiwan Taipei District Court on Tuesday handed down a 10-month sentence to ultramarathon runner Kevin Lin (林義傑) for his involvement in a copyright trolling operation that filed 937 lawsuits between 2021 and 2022.

Lin was found guilty of instigating or contracting for a lawsuit for gain under the Criminal Code as well as dealing with litigation cases for profit without an attorney license, a violation of the Attorney Regulation Act.

Lin's sentence can be converted to a fine of NT$1,000 (US$31.30) for every day.

In the same case, six others were given jail sentences ranging from six to eight months.

The case can be appealed.

Lin was discovered to have set up a copyright consultancy company in an attempt to use litigation as a source of profit, said Taipei prosecutors when they indicted him in September 2022.

Starting from May 2021, the company uploaded 18 movies that it has acquired the copyrights for, to tempt people into downloading the materials, the indictment said.

The company then traced down those who downloaded the movies and sued them for court settlements, prosecutors said.

A total of 937 lawsuits for copyright infringement have been filed, with 25 settled, extracting a total profit of NT$900,000 for the company, according to prosecutors.