PH seeks to remove piracy ‘hotspot’ tag

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) hopes that the Philippines will be stricken off the US list of piracy hotspots given the government’s achievements in intellectual property rights protection.

“As we had hoped the last two years, there is no reason that the Philippines should be retained in the US Trade Representative watchlist. All over the world, our efforts in IP enforcement are recognized,” IPOPHL director general Ricardo R. Blancaflor said in a text message.

The latest piracy watchlist released in May 2013 showed the Philippines remained on the list of countries with “underlying IPR (intellectual property rights) problems,” such as unauthorized camcording of motion pictures in theaters and Internet piracy.

Although the Philippines already promulgated specialized IPR procedural rules that were designed to improve judicial efficiency in IPR cases, the US still expected the country to address piracy over the Internet, “with respect to notorious online markets.”

Blancaflor said his office expects the USTR—the agency responsible for developing and coordinating US international trade, commodities and direct investment policies—to release the latest watchlist by April 30 this year.

Inroads in implementing the Intellectual Property Code included the issuance by the Supreme Court of new procedures relating to IP enforcement; creation of a special court for intellectual property; passage of new copyright and trademark laws; and the country’s participation in the Madrid Protocol.

The IPOPHL, by virtue of the amended Intellectual Property Code, was also allowed last year to have its own law enforcement arm that can issue orders and initiate formal charges against those involved in the distribution and sale of counterfeit and pirated products.

Last year, the total value of counterfeit and pirated products seized by the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) surged by 47 percent to P7.76 billion, seen as proof of the government’s aggressive efforts to enforce intellectual property rights in the country.

This figure exceeded not only the P6-billion target of IPOPHL for 2013, but also its P7-billion target for 2014.