High Official's Thesis Plagiarism Case: Appellate Court Rules Statute of Limitations Not Expired, Remands for Retrial
In the plagiarism case concerning Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an's doctoral dissertation, the appellate court ruled that the lawsuit was filed within the statute of limitations and remanded the case for retrial. The court acknowledged that Kao's dissertation contained substantial overlap with copyrighted material from the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The original ruling of non-suit due to the statute of limitations was overturned.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 16, 2026 at 12:16
- 🔍 Collected: April 16, 2026 at 12:31 (15 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 16, 2026 at 12:42 (10 min after Collected)
Central Message
(Central News Agency, Taipei, April 16) - The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) alleged that Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an's thesis infringed upon ITRI's copyright and filed a criminal private prosecution. The first-instance court ruled that the lawsuit was filed beyond the 6-month statute of limitations and therefore dismissed it. The appellate court today found that the statute of limitations had not expired and, to protect the right to trial, overturned the original ruling and remanded the case to the Taipei District Court for retrial.
The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court announced today that Kao Hung-an's doctoral dissertation contained at least 80% of the content from ITRI's thesis 'Quality prediction modeling for multistage manufacturing based on classification and association rule mining' and at least 30% from thesis 'Sparse Coding for Manufacturing Quality Prediction,' without ITRI's consent. These dissertations were produced under an economic ministry grant. The doctoral thesis was published on April 27, 2018, and subsequently made publicly available for download through an academic network and database in the United States. ITRI alleged that Kao Hung-an violated copyright law and initiated a criminal private prosecution.
The Taipei District Court initially ruled that scholar Chen Shih-fen (pen name Weng Da-rui) publicly claimed on his personal Facebook on October 18, 2021, that the doctoral thesis was plagiarized from ITRI's thesis. ITRI was aware of this at the time. Furthermore, since both theses originated from the same grant project by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and were published around the same time, ITRI would have compared them. However, ITRI only filed the private prosecution on October 25, 2022, which was beyond the 6-month statute of limitations, leading to the ruling of non-suit.
Upon appeal, the case was heard by the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court. The appellate panel stated today that Kao Hung-an's doctoral dissertation did indeed have 80% and 30% similarity with ITRI's theses, which Kao Hung-an did not dispute during the trial.
The appellate court determined that the Taipei District Court did not conduct a thorough investigation and incorrectly concluded that ITRI had filed the private prosecution beyond the 6-month statute of limitations. The court found ITRI's appeal, alleging the original judgment was improper, to be valid. To protect Kao Hung-an's right to trial, in accordance with Article 369 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the original judgment was overturned and remanded to the Taipei District Court for a proper ruling. (Editor: Lin Shu-hui) 1150416
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(Central News Agency, Taipei, April 16) - The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) alleged that Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an's thesis infringed upon ITRI's copyright and filed a criminal private prosecution. The first-instance court ruled that the lawsuit was filed beyond the 6-month statute of limitations and therefore dismissed it. The appellate court today found that the statute of limitations had not expired and, to protect the right to trial, overturned the original ruling and remanded the case to the Taipei District Court for retrial.
The Intellectual Property and Commercial Court announced today that Kao Hung-an's doctoral dissertation contained at least 80% of the content from ITRI's thesis 'Quality prediction modeling for multistage manufacturing based on classification and association rule mining' and at least 30% from thesis 'Sparse Coding for Manufacturing Quality Prediction,' without ITRI's consent. These dissertations were produced under an economic ministry grant. The doctoral thesis was published on April 27, 2018, and subsequently made publicly available for download through an academic network and database in the United States. ITRI alleged that Kao Hung-an violated copyright law and initiated a criminal private prosecution.
The Taipei District Court initially ruled that scholar Chen Shih-fen (pen name Weng Da-rui) publicly claimed on his personal Facebook on October 18, 2021, that the doctoral thesis was plagiarized from ITRI's thesis. ITRI was aware of this at the time. Furthermore, since both theses originated from the same grant project by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and were published around the same time, ITRI would have compared them. However, ITRI only filed the private prosecution on October 25, 2022, which was beyond the 6-month statute of limitations, leading to the ruling of non-suit.
Upon appeal, the case was heard by the Intellectual Property and Commercial Court. The appellate panel stated today that Kao Hung-an's doctoral dissertation did indeed have 80% and 30% similarity with ITRI's theses, which Kao Hung-an did not dispute during the trial.
The appellate court determined that the Taipei District Court did not conduct a thorough investigation and incorrectly concluded that ITRI had filed the private prosecution beyond the 6-month statute of limitations. The court found ITRI's appeal, alleging the original judgment was improper, to be valid. To protect Kao Hung-an's right to trial, in accordance with Article 369 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the original judgment was overturned and remanded to the Taipei District Court for a proper ruling. (Editor: Lin Shu-hui) 1150416
Choose to stand with the facts. Your sponsorship is the power to protect news freedom.
Download the Central News Agency 'First News' APP for real-time updates.
Text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.