Product photographs may be protected by copyright in Taiwan if they reflect the photographer’s original creative choices, such as camera angle, lighting, composition, styling, or posing. Copyright protection generally arises upon completion of a qualifying work; registration, a watermark, or a logo is not necessarily required.
However, ownership, licensing terms, the scope of use, and whether a particular photograph meets the legal requirements can depend on the facts.
In cross-border e-commerce, sellers sometimes download product photographs from a brand’s website, online store, or social-media account and reuse them in product listings, advertisements, or posts without permission.
Using a photograph without authorization may raise copyright issues even where the seller does not copy the brand’s name, logo, or full visual identity. In Taiwan, photographic works are among the categories of works protected under the Copyright Act, subject to the applicable legal requirements.
Common situations include:
The analysis is not limited to whether a watermark appears on the image. The more important questions are whether the photograph is protected, who owns the relevant rights, whether permission was granted, and how the image was used.
Before sending a demand letter or starting legal proceedings, a rights holder should confirm both ownership and evidence.
Confirm ownership. Identify who created the photographs and review any employment, commissioning, collaboration, licensing, or marketing agreement. A brand may not automatically own every photograph merely because the photograph features its products.
Preserve core evidence. Save the original image files and relevant creation records. Capture the infringing listings, posts, account details, URLs, dates, product pages, and communications with the other party. Screen recordings may be useful where content is likely to be deleted, restricted, renamed, or moved.
For large-scale infringement, it is usually more practical to preserve a strong, representative body of evidence than to treat every image as an isolated claim without first developing an overall evidence strategy.
Depending on the circumstances, the rights holder may consider:
Under Taiwan’s Copyright Act, a copyright owner may seek removal or prevention of infringement and may claim damages. The appropriate remedy and likely outcome depend on the particular facts, available evidence, ownership position, nature of the use, and the applicable law.
There is no automatic or fixed amount payable for every copied product photograph. Damages may depend on factors such as the number of images, duration and scale of use, commercial purpose, conduct after notice, evidence of actual loss, reasonable licensing value, and the circumstances of the alleged infringer.
For that reason, businesses should avoid assuming that a high demand amount will necessarily be awarded, or that a small number of copied images should be ignored. The most effective strategy often combines clear evidence preservation, a proportionate legal demand, and a realistic assessment of recovery and enforcement.
