Background

The island of Taiwan was annexed by Qing China in 1683, then ceded to Japan in 1895. The Republic of China (ROC) assumed control of Taiwan in 1945 after Japan's defeat in World War II. In 1949, the government of the ROC fled to Taiwan from mainland China. In 1971, the ROC lost its seat in the United Nations to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The copyright laws of the Republic of China are codified in the Copyright Act as amended on 15 June 2022, in effect in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu. A list of changes to copyright laws since 1928 is available at Wikibooks.

The original 1928 copyright law, as well as subsequent modifications prior to the 1985, required registration in order to receive copyright protection, as written in the Article 1. Since 1985, copyright protection in the Republic of China was automatic upon creation.

Therefore, for works created prior to 1985, the uploader must distinguish between registered and unregistered works. For the purpose of Wikimedia Commons, it is safe to assume registration for any work (movies, voice and musical records, books, magazines, and others) who received legal distribution in the RoC, especially during the times of the Martial Law. On the other hand, bootleg or censored works who never got a commercial release can be assumed to be unregistered. For works not intended to be exploited commercially, such as personal photographs, the situation is more difficult, and a proof of registration should be provided in the documentation if uploading it as a registered product.

Works created prior to 10 July 1985 and whose natural copyright term was expired under the 1928 copyright law, are considered in PD. For unregistered works, the 1985 text granted them copyright retroactively, and thus the general rules apply.