A Taiwanese man who won a poster design competition to promote copyright protection has been stripped of his prize after he was exposed as a copycat, officials said Thursday. The man, identified only by his surname Wu, apologized and admitted that his winning design was copied from a work by Dutch artist Dennis Sibeijn featuring a paper plane and, ironically, titled "Truth".

Wu was ordered to return to the Intellectual Property Office the 50,000 Taiwan dollars (1,600 US) prize money he won in the contest last year when he was a university student. His deception surfaced after a commuter recognized the work on a billboard carrying Wu's prize-winning design at a Taipei subway station and reported to the office.

The authorities have removed all the posters from the subway stations, but officials warned that if the Dutch artist filed a lawsuit against Wu, he could face a jail term of up to three years or a fine of 750,000 Taiwan dollars.