Bureau of Copyright to be formed under new act

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (Ipophl) expects a Bureau of Copyright to be established soon, following the approval on third reading of a bill amending the Intellectual Property Code at the House of Representatives.

Ipophl Director General Ricardo Blancaflor said the creation of the new bureau, which would be under Ipophl, would be a significant first step toward protecting IP owners in copyright-based industries such as books, film, media and music.

The creation of the bureau was one of the provisions of House Bill No. 3841, which sought to amend the country’s Intellectual Property Code.

Once in place, Blancaflor related that the Bureau of Copyright would be tasked with registering artistic and literary works, as well as resolving issues of imitation and plagiarism. It would also regulate entities that would collect royalties on behalf of artists.

While waiting for the establishment of the Bureau of Copyright, Ipophl forged an agreement with the National Library of the Philippines for the operation of the Copyright Registration and Deposit System (Cords), which would go live next month.

The Cords system aims to give artists, scholars, inventors and other IP holders another way to protect their IP assets. Under the agreement, Ipophl will accept copyright registration applications on behalf of the NLP and issue copyright certificates.

“Although registration is not the source of copyright, the process is legally required in order to complete the records of the National Library,” Blancaflor explained. “In addition, Ipophl magnifies the value of the copyright certificate by requiring the applicant to execute an affidavit of ownership, which will be reproduced at the back of each certificate. This serves as prima facie evidence of ownership and may be used in any proceeding.”

The first ever copyright registration certificate under the Cords system was issued to the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation for paintings created by the late President Corazon Aquino.

An amended law will also extend the scope of copyright infringement to contributory infringement, circumvention of technological measures and rights management information as aggravating circumstances.—Abigail L. Ho