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GO ahead,
copy this article. But passing this as an original and
earning from it, well, that’s not only plagiarism but, as
lawyer Alex Ferdinand S. Fider points out, it’s actually
stealing.
Now that
may not be an original view—a guitar riff-riddled music
video message comes to mind—but Fider says respecting
intellectual property rights (IPR) of individuals keeps
people in a civilized world.
From his
end, which is as monitor of Accra Law’s IP department, the
Philippines is still within that realm and most Filipinos
still have a sense of propriety.
“There are
indicators that at least our system is working,” says
Fider, a partner of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala &
Cruz Law Offices.
Fider
spoke to BusinessMirror after
Accra
was named Philippine IP Firm for 2007 by Asia Law and
Practice by Hong Kong-based magazine publisher Euromoney.
The system
Fider referred to is the application of the decade-old
Intellectual Property Code of the
Philippines
(IP Code), which was enacted into law in June 1997.
The IP
Code expanded the definition of intellectual property to
include other property rights such as topographies,
geographic indications and undisclosed information, aside
from patents, trademarks and copyright.”
“But while
the IP Code is a significant development, even before that
we already have two laws in place. In fact, our laws are
even better than other countries,” he claims.
These
laws, crafted in 1947, refer to patents and trademarks.
Inventors
usually apply for a patent to protect the exclusive rights
to their creation. A trademark, on the other hand,
according to the Small Business Dictionary, is “a name,
symbol, motto or emblem that identifies a product, service
or firm that has been legally registered as the property
of the firm.”
A
trademark, Fider points out, lasts every 10 years upon
registration while a patent lasts for 20 years, “from the
time the patent application is filed, not from the time
the patent is actually granted.”
It is only
after the patent expires can a product be copied,
manufactured and sold, according to the Quizlaw web site.
The web
site added that “if a patent application takes more than
three years to process, the applicant can seek an
extension so that the patent will last for 17 years from
the date the patent is issued.”
“Generally, when the patent for a product expires, other
companies will begin to offer comparative products at a
lower price,” Quizlaw said, citing as example
pharmaceutical drugs.
“After the
patent on a name brand drug expires, competitors will
begin selling a ‘generic’ version of that same drug,
because the original pharmaceutical company no longer has
the ability to protect the makeup of its brand-name drug,”
Quizlaw added.
According
to Fider, the pharmaceutical industry this year would see
increasing cases of violation of patents and trademarks.
The
proliferation of fake medicines, he forecast, would
account for major cases of IP-rights violation in the
coming months.
Vigilance
FIDER, a
Master of Laws graduate of the University of London in the
UK, says the only option that businesses have is to be
vigilant against IP-rights violations.
He cites,
as an example, a photography contest wherein the sponsors
asked the photographers to waive their copyright over the
submitted entries.
Those in
the creative profession, Fider suggests, can also group
together and hire a licensing collections agency.
Vigilance
is important in the coming times, the University of the
Philippines College of Law graduate said, because as the
market becomes complex and technology is more encompassing
now, IP-rights violation would become incessant.
He points
out the difficulty of the optical media-based industry to
curb piracy as a sign.
And today,
counterfeiting is going into semiconductors and even plant
varieties, Fider warns.
Likewise,
Fider says vigilance is important as litigation periods
are long, citing the trademark infringement case wherein
the law firm represented McDonald’s Corp. against Big Mak
Burger Inc.
“The case
started in the lower court in 1990, went on appeal before
the Court of Appeals, and was finally decided by the
Supreme Court in 2004,” Fider recalls.
“But
that’s the average life span of a case,” he adds.
Fider also
notes that the shortage in manpower of the National Bureau
of Investigation clips the government’s ability to address
cases of IP-rights violation.
Finally,
he stresses that vigilance is all the more important today
because—as they noticed based on their recent raid of a
company—counterfeit products are now being coursed through
legitimate business.
“Before,
these products were manufactured in the Philippines. Now
they’re just being imported because it’s more expensive to
put up a manufacturing line,” Fider says.
Hence, “we
would see more of commerce gaining more ‘monopoly’ over
something.”
He
justifies this particular “monopoly rights” as “the price
we have to pay to encourage more people to innovate and
create.”
“They
should feel they or their creations are protected. Having
people exercise their IP rights is an act of justice. They
should be remunerated for their creations, don’t you think
so?”
Besides,
Fider adds, the “monopoly” given to the inventor by virtue
of IP laws is “only temporary.”
“Ultimately, the market would adjust,” Fider says, citing
as example the prices of commercial optical media-based
products in the Philippines going down.
Nonetheless, “IP owners or stakeholders must remain
zealous in protecting their rights,” he stresees.
Civilization
FIDER’S
zealousness in IP law began in 1987 when he was choosing
which area of legal expertise he would master.
Now 40,
Fider says he opted to take up commercial and corporate
law from Queen Mary and Westfield College (now Queen Mary
College), University of London.
His trust
in the country’s IP Code comes from the lack of regret in
choosing such field of expertise to study and practice.
Likewise, it comes from his adherence to English professor
William Cornish’s definition of IP, which “refers to the
finer manifestation of human achievements.”
“Violating
IP rights, or producing knock-offs, and allowing such
transactions to flourish would create a major social
problem for us,” Fider says.
He
explains that allowing people to buy or sell fake goods
would mean a disregard for the law.
“No matter
how trivial it is, or how small the infraction, it’s scary
because it would justify future violations of other
aspects of the law or other laws even,” Fider explains.
“You must
understand that the foundation of the legal principle
behind intellectual property law is that inventors,
authors or creators are treated as persons, who have
certain attributes that conform to his [or her] dignity as
man,” he adds.
“Thus, the
inventions, literary works or any other creations are an
extension of his personality and naturally belong to him,”
Fider says.
Because of
the universality of that concept, Fider believes it is
expected that the same protection is given by other
countries to Filipino creations.
So next
time you see streetwalking bootleg-DVD peddlers or come
upon a word-shooting match between
actors-turned-government executives, wax philosophical as
Fider does.
Maybe the
sense of vigilance would come naturally rather than profit
loss or diminished entertainment value.
Or look at
the creative person near you and see what Fider sees. |
