Holy Stone Enterprises Co., Ltd.

Case:

Key Words:

false and untrue, digital photo printing machine, uninterrupted power system

Reference:

Fair Trade Commission Decision of December 28, 2006 (the 790th Commissioners' Meeting); Disposition (95) Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 095176

Industry:

Other Optical Instruments and Equipment Manufacturing (2779)

Relevant Laws:

Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law

Summary:

1. Holy Stone Enterprises Co., Ltd. (hereinafter called "Holy Stone") advertised that its D1008III Digital Photo Printing Machine is "Photo/Paper Printing Machine with Uninterrupted Power System: The paper and photo printing machine with built-in uninterrupted power system (UPS) can function normally when power outage occurs." However, said UPS function was unable to be activated in the event of power outages and caused the machine to shut down. The above advertisement statement might be untrue and in violation of Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law.
2. Findings of FTC after investigation: Upon the inspection by the FTC, both parties to the complaint, and the statements of digital photo printing business operators, it is proved that the digital photo printing machine was unable to activate the UPS function after the power was shut off and failed to normally output the photos used in the inspection.
3. Grounds for disposition:
   (1) According to the investigation, it is proved that the digital photo printing machines sold by Holy Stone were unable to activate the UPS function during a power outage and therefore failed to function properly. Thus, Holy Stone's representations of the UPS function employed in the abovementioned advertisement of these printing machines, tens of which had been sold, were false, untrue and misleading in terms of product quality and contents in violation of Article 21(1) of the Fair Trade Law.
   (2) After considering the motivation, purpose, and expected improper benefit of the unlawful act of Holy Stone; the degree of the act's harm to market order; the duration of the act's harm to market order; benefits derived on account of the unlawful act; the scale, operating condition, sales and market position of the enterprise; whether or not the type of unlawful act involved in the violation has been correct ed or warned by the Central Competent Authority; types and number of and intervals between past violations, and the punishment for such violations; remorse shown for the act and attitude of cooperation in the investigation; and other factors, the FTC ordered Holy Stone to immediately cease the unlawful act and imposed an administrative fine of NT$500,000 in accordance with the fore part of Article 41 of the Fair Trade Law.

Appendix:
Holy Stone Enterprises Co., Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 20891326

Summarized by Tai, Mei-Chin; Supervised by Lu, Li-Na