Elders Drinking Song: International Litigation on Copyright Infringement
—Taiwan aboriginal v. Atlanta Olympics
Huang Shiu-Lan
Content Introduction
Lee Daw Ming, Professor Emeritus of Taipei National University of the Arts
Ya-Li Huang, Director of the Film ‘’Le Moulin‘’
Xiong Ru Xian, The director of Wild Fire Music, Taiwan
—Sincerely recommended
‘’Why does the Olympics use my voice without telling me?’’
Since Difang Duana heard the Olympics music on the radio and immediately recognized it was his voice in the background. And started this three-year international copyright infringement litigation.
“Elders Drinking Song”, this Amis song, has been passed down for centuries but is rarely known outside. In the beginning, a professor in Ethnomusicology discovered this song during his fieldwork on folk music. Then a foreign band sampled the song into a new song composition and was chosen as the Atlanta Olympics promo song. For the singers, it was gratifying to be heard in the Olympics and let tribal music be known by the world, but they were also worried about why their rights are not valued.
This book was written by Huang Shiu-Lan lawyer, who joined the lawsuit, she recalls the ''Elders Drinking Song'' international infringement lawsuit. From the outbreak of the infringement incident to the decision to litigate, speak out from Taiwan to the international media. This transnational lawsuit prompted Taiwan's lawmakers to put a new law in place: "Protection Act for The Traditional Intellectual Creations of Indigenous Peoples." and add an article protecting "performance" as an independent copyrighted work.