PHL Anti-Piracy Team seize P70-M worth of pirated goods in Nov

The Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) under the Optical Media Board seized about P70 million worth of pirated discs in different locations in Metro Manila last November. In an e-mailed statement on Wednesday, PAPT said that it confiscated about 70 sacks or roughly 28,000 pieces of counterfeit discs containing movies, games, music, and computer programs. From January to September, the government’s joint task force that enforces intellectual property rights seized about P4.126 billion worth of fake products. This number, however, notes a 20-percent decline from the amount counterfeit products confiscated in the same period last year. Tutuban Center Mall, University Mall, Isetann, Metro Market! Market!, and the Marikina Riverbanks were the establishments raided last month, PAPT added. In separate operations conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation last month, four computer dealers in the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City were also found accountable for software infringement. A total of eight laptops, which contained counterfeit Microsoft programs, were seized. On Tuesday, the United States’ Trade Representative removed Quiapo, Manila from its list of markets that facilitate global piracy and counterfeiting. “We are aware that many consumers are attracted to low-priced merchandise such as optical media especially during this period that they tend to overlook the fact that these items are counterfeit products,” OMB executive director Cyrus Valenzuela said in the same statement. “There are no benefits in pirated software., It is unreliable as it contains malware, which exposes users to identity and information theft and loss of data. In an even more serious note, it harms the Philippine economy in revenue losses, lower tax collections for the government and diminished job opportunities for Filipinos,” added NBI Intellectual Property Rights division chief Rommel Vallejo. “There are no benefits in pirated software., It is unreliable as it contains malware, which exposes users to identity and information theft and loss of data. In an even more serious note, it harms the Philippine economy in revenue losses, lower tax collections for the government and diminished job opportunities for Filipinos,” added NBI Intellectual Property Rights division chief Rommel Vallejo. — DVM, GMA News