Gov’t seized P23B worth of pirated goods as of Sept

MANILA  -At least P23.03 billion worth of pirated goods were seized by authorities from January to September this year, leading to a more than two-fold increase in the value of contraband confiscated yearly in the Philippines.

Records from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) obtained by the Inquirer showed that this was the collective haul of the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the nine-month period.

It exceeded the value of last year’s haul of P9.49 billion, but short of the P24.90 billion seizure in 2021.

The biggest haul was from the BOC, which seized P22.1 billion worth of these illicit goods.

This was followed by the NBI, which confiscated P675.40 million worth of pirated products, while the PNP seized P257.70 million worth of contraband.

Meanwhile, the FDA was able to take possession of P53,000 worth of pirated products under its jurisdiction.

Earlier in July, the IPOPHL said that counterfeit and piracy reports lodged at its office surged by nearly fourfold during the first half of the year, driven by complaints concerning pirated gaming software, as well as by bootlegged apparel, perfume and beauty products.

READ: Piracy, counterfeit reports surged 286% in H1 2023

Further, the IPOPHL also recorded 48 reports on counterfeiting during those months, representing a 9 percent increase from the 43 filings it handled last year.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba had said that IP rights holders should push for the enforcement of their IP rights more actively.

“Take-downs, seizures and other administrative, civil and criminal remedies could only be deployed at the request of legitimate IP rights holders. IP rights holders would see more concrete action against violators if they also take more action,” said Barba.

Last month, the IPOPHL launched its rules on disabling internet access to websites promoting piracy and hosting pirated content as part of the government’s fight on piracy in the virtual front.

READ: Blocking of sites with pirated content pushed

Barba on Sept. 20 signed Memorandum Circular 23-025, otherwise known as the “Rules on Voluntary Administrative Site Blocking,” allowing rights holders or their representative to file a takedown request of these websites promoting piracy.

The IPOPHL, through its IP Rights Enforcement Office, will then serve a blocking request to the administrator of the concerned website or to the concerned internet service provider.