About us

eCounsel group

A boutique firm with unparalleled expertise in business and technology. We have good command of industrial ecology and legal practice, and have undertaken highly regarded cases. Because the small business scope, we pay more emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency, and choose clients with deliberation. The managing partner not only has extensive experiences in various legal issues more over than 20 years, but invests and manages several technology companies. In addition, he always checks each case rigorously. Clients’ business objectives are our primary focus. To achieve the same in the most cost-effective fashion trumps all seemingly sophisticated legal discussions.

Is Google too powerful now?

2017 - 09 - 22

Google was recently slapped with a record-breaking €2.42bn fine for EU antitrust violations.

The 7-year long investigation concluded that Google has been abusing its dominance of the search engine market in building its online shopping service, and therefore, putting those of rivals in an unfavourable spot.

In the 2017/08/30 Washington Post article: “Google is coming after critics in academia and journalism. It’s time to stop them.”, professor Zephyr Teachout talks about an incident Google had with New America, a think tank financed by Google, of which an article praising the EU decision was published by a member of New America, and coincidentally, that member was dismissed shortly after that. The article argues that Google is now too big and powerful that it becomes a tyrant that controls its own version of “free speech”.

“Don’t be evil” has been the motto of Google’s corporate code of conduct since 2000. Yet, we are not too sure if that is still relevant when over 75% market share in searches is in its hands.

antitrust, EU, Google

The Medical Care Act - Missing The Point, Causing Disputes

2015-05-25

Taiwan’s National Health Insurance is already the envy of the world. But the worsening relationships between doctors and patients and the shortage of doctors in major departments has also been the biggest threats. 台灣健保已是舉世稱羨之制度，但是，醫病關係之惡化、以及內外婦兒急五大科的醫師荒，也是目前台灣的重大隱憂。冰凍三尺非一日之寒，化三尺之凍亦非旦夕之功。然而，一個根本搞不清楚方向的跛腳政府，卻為了曲意討好選民，推了「醫療糾紛處理及醫療事故補償法」（簡稱「醫糾法」），我們相信為其核心的強制調解的作法，等同頭痛醫腳，只會帶來催生糾紛、深化醫病對立之效果。其實，回歸本質思考，這個影響社會安定至鉅、卻又莫衷一是的難題並非無解。我們非常市儈地認為，必須以「財源」之規劃作為核心，才不會治絲益棼。謹在此拋磚引玉，提出三個解決問題的思考方向（如下A, B, C三點），就教於各界。但在提出之前，必須先表明我們的五項認知基礎：…

Poverty and Education

2017-10-16

According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Health and Welfare, data shows that in the first quarter of 2016, 2 out of 10 low-income/middle-income people are children under the age of 12. More troubling, underage teenagers account…

Neflix in Taiwan, Same Price for Less

2016-01-07

Neftlix is coming to Taiwan. Fans in Taiwan are rejoicing about its arrival. On the contrary, we feel pity for those who have signed up. Netflix今年進台灣，美劇粉絲引頸盼。我們其實很為這些人難過，為什麼呢？讀者可以參考這篇文章，摘譯如下：「訂閱Netflix的DVD服務，主要就是為了它完整的DVD片庫。用戶有超過93,000部電影可供選擇。透過郵寄遞送服務，92%的用戶可以隔日取片。此外，因為著作權原因，最新發行的影片通常只以DVD配送，不供網上串流。」「實體DVD和藍光DVD租借的授權其實比線上串流單純很多，電影通常在上映內一個月內即開始授權。串流影片則完全不同，授權合約經常到期或更動。Netflix常常必需從其影片庫中移除電影，也嘗試著用自製影集來補強其內容。很多Netflix粉絲對這樣的問題並不陌生，喜歡的電影一看再看，但再回首時，這些電影卻已遍尋不到。影片來來去去在串流服務可說司空見慣，使用者如果喜歡重看好片，還是用它的DVD服務比較好。」 Netflix台灣，價高片少瞭解影音業者串流授權模式的都知道，契約和授權金都是以國家／地區為計算基礎，個別談判的。因此，每個地方能看得到聽得到什麼，永遠都是不一致的。這部分，Netflix 在美國拿到的授權片庫比起台灣的大得多、新得多。但是 Hastings給比較爛的服務，然後要收比較貴的費用（參考Spotify美國和台灣的服務方案與費率差異。）在美國的 Netflix 可以另外訂郵寄 DVD/Bluray…

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