BusinessWorld: Intellectual property office reports anti-piracy gains

THE INTELLECTUAL Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) has reported 64 convictions of intellectual property rights (IPR) violators since 2001, even as it reiterated calls for the creation of special trial and international trade courts to boost the fight against piracy. In a statement, it said the reported number of convictions, however, does not include information from private law practitioners handling intellectual property cases. Hence, IP Philippines Director General Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr., asked private law firms to share data on convictions and other information-related to monitoring of intellectual property cases to get an accurate picture of prosecution of such cases in the country. "The [latest] figures on fake goods seized indicate that the Philippine government can sustain enforcement operations through effective interagency coordination," he said. "However, the big challenge now is moving these cases in the courts." Last year, the IPR division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed 423 cases and served 310 search warrants. The Philippine National Police (PNP), meanwhile, filed 28 cases, served 242 search warrants, and arrested 59 individuals. Data on convictions from 2001 to 2007 showed that most of the violations involved trademark infringement, unfair competition, and copyright infringement under Republic Act 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines. Other cases involve violations of Republic Act 9239 or the Optical Media Act, and Republic Act 8203 for counterfeit drugs. The government early this month reported that it had seized a total of P3 billion worth of fake goods in 2007, more than double the P1.35 billion worth of confiscated items recorded in 2006. IP Philippines said it undertook a total of 3,022 operations, with more than six million items confiscated from three million in 2006. The Optical Media Board (OMB) recovered P1.12 billion worth of fake items last year from P208.2 million in 2006, followed by the Customs bureau with 1.08 billion from P722.7 million in the same periods. The PNP confiscated about P400 million, up from P131 million in 2006, while the NBI turned over P260 million from P163.9 million. OMB seized a total of 4,807,523 items, including discs, amplifiers, computers, DVD players, television sets, speakers, equalizers, sub woofers, and transformers. The agency also identified five areas frequently raided in 2007 for selling counterfeit items, including Binondo, Greenhills, Makati Cinema Square, Quiapo and Metro-walk. IP enforcement and institutional capacity-building forms part of intellectual property resources identified in the Philippine Intellectual Property Policy Strategy (PIPPS), which was presented to President Gloria M. Arroyo at the National Innovation Summit late last year. Other resources identified in the PIPPS include public health; patent reform; universities, and research and development institutions; biodiversity and genetic resources; indigenous knowledge, systems, and practices; folklore and geographic indications; small- and medium-sized enterprises; as well as copyright and other creative industries. — Bernardette S. Sto. Domingo, BusinessWorld