Hsu Che-hao, 27, struck a plea bargain with district prosecutors and the publishing company in exchange for not having charges pressed against him.

Hsu, an engineer, agreed to donate NT$60,000 to the Taiwan Book Publishers Association (TBPA), put up posters on intellectual property rights (IPR) at 20 universities, stand at the entrance of universities assigned by TBPA for a total of 80 hours while wearing a placard stating his crime and handing out flyers on IPR, and post 200 letters of apology online.

The owner of the copy center, Li Wen-wei, 27, also entered into an agreement with prosecutors and the publishing company to donate NT$90,000 to the TBPA and hang a poster outside his store on the consequences of violating copyright laws.

The two were given six months to fulfill the tasks in order to receive a two-year suspended indictment, said prosecutors.

The crime was discovered back in February 2006 by a district prosecutor who stumbled upon Hsu's page when surfing online for English reference books.

The prosecutor tracked Hsu's residence to southern Tainan, and therefore referred the case to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office.

Prosecutors confiscated a box full of photocopied reference books upon Hsu's arrest. According to investigators, Hsu had been selling the illegal photocopies for about a month before his arrest.

Aside from Oxford University Press material, Hsu also photocopied "expensive books" by other publishing companies, some of which prosecutors were unable to get a hold of regarding the case, reported the United Daily News.