IP rights body says counterfeiting, piracy complaints down in Jan to Nov  

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) on Monday said that piracy and counterfeiting complaints and reports it received from January to November declined by 40 percent, attributing it to government and private sector efforts to quash intellectual property (IP)-related crimes.

The IP-rights office said it had received 92 such reports and complaints during the eleven-month period, lower than the full-year figure of 153 in 2021 and 104 in 2020.

“Complaints are down because there were actions against (piracy and counterfeiting). If you look at the 2021 figure, the value of government seizures has already reached about P25 billion,” IPOPHL Deputy Director General Teodoro Pascua said in a press conference.

Pascua added that the several firms signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2021 with  the the two biggest e-commerce platforms in the Philippines -Shopee and Lazada- to fight piracy and counterfeiting.

The IPOPHL official said these companies include big brands like Unilever, Golden ABC Inc., Procter and Gamble, among others.

“There’s a mechanism there for complaints,” Pascua said, adding that the agreement was renewed this year.

Under this arrangement, the IPOPHL official said 163,000 merchants or accounts selling pirated and counterfeit goods through the two e-commerce platforms were taken down.

Counterfeit, pirated goods

The IPOPHL said instances of counterfeiting accounted for 75 percent of the total reports and complaints.

Apparel, which includes shoes, clothes, bags and eyewear, remained the most counterfeited goods in the market comprising 61.9 percent of the total.

This is followed by perfume and beauty products at 7.9 percent, gadgets at 7.9 percent, food at 4.8 percent, home items at 4.8 percent, automotive materials at 3.2 percent, cigarettes at 3.2 percent, and pharmaceuticals or medical products at 1.6 percent.

As for pirated goods, IPOPHL said  software programs now top the list at 33.3 percent, followed closely by shows and movies at 28.6 percent.

Artworks and paintings came in next at 19 percent, general eBooks at 14.3 percent, and educational books and eBooks at 4.8 percent.

“Concerned citizens continued to be the most active intellectual property violation reporters with 76.1 percent of total reports,” IPOPHL said, citing that the remaining 23.4 percent are reports from brand owners.

The IP-rights body added that the online space remains to be the leading source of IP violations, with 60.6 percent involving reports and complaints in Facebook.

Those involving Shopee and Lazada comprise 12.1 percent and 5 percent, respectively, IPOPHL added.

The remaining 6 percent are from Instagram, while the other 15 percent involve other websites.