Taipei officials sniff out 1,865 pirated Wii and PS2 discs

Taipei officials are on red alert. The Customs Office is currently investigating some Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 discs totalling 1,865 in number, and the board is trying to verify whether they are pirated copies.

Especially after last month’s crackdown, where the Taipei Customs Office had to call in a Nintendo representative to verify a batch of pirated Wii discs, it isn’t surprising that the officials are stricter now.

This time around, the confiscated batch is said to amount to as much as US$ 80,000 if sold on the market. Wow. You could buy, like, a lot of Wii with that. But moving on…

Some would say that piracy is getting out of control in Southeast Asia, but it’s good to hear that the Taipei officials are doing their part to snuff it out in their region. Like last month’s case, those involved in the actual production or smuggling of pirated discs would be prosecuted under violation of the Copyright Laws.

What’s interesting to note here is that the Nintendo Wii console itself hasn’t even been officially launched in Taiwan yet. An estimated number of about 200,000 consoles have been distributed though, but that’s via import and Nintendo certification. With current duty-free laws in Taiwan, people flying into the country are only allowed to bring with them a maximum of two Nintendo Wii discs. Surely, bringing in 1,865 discs is stretching the “two disc duty-free” rule too much, is it not?

Taipei officials are on red alert. The Customs Office is currently investigating some Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 discs totalling 1,865 in number, and the board is trying to verify whether they are pirated copies.

Especially after last month’s crackdown, where the Taipei Customs Office had to call in a Nintendo representative to verify a batch of pirated Wii discs, it isn’t surprising that the officials are stricter now.

This time around, the confiscated batch is said to amount to as much as US$ 80,000 if sold on the market. Wow. You could buy, like, a lot of Wii with that. But moving on…

Some would say that piracy is getting out of control in Southeast Asia, but it’s good to hear that the Taipei officials are doing their part to snuff it out in their region. Like last month’s case, those involved in the actual production or smuggling of pirated discs would be prosecuted under violation of the Copyright Laws.

What’s interesting to note here is that the Nintendo Wii console itself hasn’t even been officially launched in Taiwan yet. An estimated number of about 200,000 consoles have been distributed though, but that’s via import and Nintendo certification. With current duty-free laws in Taiwan, people flying into the country are only allowed to bring with them a maximum of two Nintendo Wii discs. Surely, bringing in 1,865 discs is stretching the “two disc duty-free” rule too much, is it not?