PH risks joining US watchlist anew

Two US-based lobby groups have urged the US government to reinstate the Philippines in its notorious markets list, as the country reportedly showed “little improvement” in curbing piracy and counterfeiting. INQUIRER file photo

Two US-based lobby groups have urged the US government to reinstate the Philippines in its notorious markets list, as the country reportedly showed “little improvement” in curbing piracy and counterfeiting.

In their separate comments submitted to the US Trade Representative regarding the 2013 Special 301 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets, BSA/The Software Alliance and the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) both said that the Philippines should be included in the “physical piracy notorious markets” list.

BSA, in particular, identified as hotspots Quiapo, Binondo, Baclaran and other nearby malls in Divisoria, Manila, including Juan Luna Plaza and New Divisoria Mall.

“There has been little improvement in these specific areas since our past report. Vendors of counterfeit software are still there,” BSA said in its submission.

Other countries that were included in BSA’s list were Chile, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, the Tri-Border Region (Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil), China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

IIPA similarly cited as hotspots Quiapo, Binondo, Baclaran, Makati Cinema Square, Metrowalk, 168 Mall, Divisoria, Juan Luna Plaza and New Divisoria Mall, all of which “continue to contain retail pirate trade.”

“While Manila’s Quiapo district was removed from USTR’s notorious markets list in 2012, unfortunately, recent raids, including a major raid in August 2013, revealed hundreds of thousands of pirate discs, including pirate and counterfeit software,” IIPA explained.

Other countries in IIPA’s list were Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Tri-Border Region (Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil), China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Australia, Canada, Northern Ireland, Thailand and India.

BSA, the leading global advocate for the software industry and has world-class companies like Apple and Microsoft as its members, noted that software piracy was by far the biggest form of copyright piracy in dollar terms. Citing the 9th Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study, BSA said that the worldwide commercial value of illegally installed software stood at more than $63 billion in 2011.

BSA added that increasing the use of pirated software by 1 percent would add $20 billion to the global economy, while increasing legal software use by 1 percent would add a whopping $73 billion to the world economy. The additional economic value associated with fully licensed software is even more pronounced in developing markets, the group stressed.

The Philippines, particularly, just got off the US list of “notorious markets” for pirated products in December 2012.