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There is
no denying that intellectual property rights (IPR) must
be protected against those who violate them, but when
the owners of these rights are the ones abusing such
rights by pricing their products beyond the reach of the
public, such rights must be tempered or, in the words of
educator Romulo Neri, such greed must be moderated.
The
public sentiment is that products sold by IPR owners are
so ridiculously priced that consumers, whether rich or
poor, are left with no alternative but to patronize the
fakers and the pirates who believe that selling them by
the dozen makes their wares cheaper in the eyes of their
direct buyers.
After
all, according to the World Intellectual Property
Organization (Wipo), a specialized agency of the United
Nations, its purpose is how to develop a balanced and
accessible international intellectual-property (IP)
system that rewards creativity, stimulates innovation
and contributes to economic development while
safeguarding the public interest.
That is
the problem. Products invented or marketed by owners of
trade marks, patents and other such products have become
inaccessible to the patronizing people so much so that
buying them on retail basis has made it so economically
unreasonable.
The
common argument by those who are against intellectual
piracy is that inventors and owners, including musicians
and other innovators, invested so much for their works
that they deserve to be properly compensated.
They, it
seems, are not believers of the law of supply and demand
or of the economies of scale that, in so many words,
mean that producers must not price their products beyond
the means of the market.
Why is
there so much smuggling in our country? It’s because
imported products sold that pass through Customs are so
expensive with so many taxes and tariffs tacked to every
item the consumers buy.
Musicians, artists and movie producers, for instance,
are complaining that their compact discs (CDs) are not
selling because pirates from China and other imitators
are selling the same items like hot cakes.
Who
wants fakes? But fakes have their own excuses for being.
As for the rightful owners of the products they sell,
the high cost of production should not be an excuse to
overprice the people.
Wipo
director general Kamil Idris, during the World IP Day
early this month, said, “The man or woman in the street
might wonder just what makes IP worth all this effort”
to curve piracy.
“What,
they might ask, do the workings of copyrights, patents,
industrial designs or trademarks have to do with the
really big issues, like how to stop global warming, or
with the things that add spice to life, like watching
their favorite athletes perform in this year’s
Olympics?” asked Idris.
“The
answer is that, without IPR, many new technologies
developed to tackle global problems would never see the
light of day, and the great sporting events, which
entertain and unite us, would not be broadcast into
homes across the globe,” he explained, though not quite
that convincing.
He
forgot to emphasize, intentionally or not, that when
such rights were granted to their owners, the idea was
to make their products more accessible and less
expensive for the good of the public.
Let’s
ban the mass production of fake CDs and similar
products, but let us also require the producers to price
their so-called rights accordingly, meaning in according
to the dictates of conscience and the market.
E-mail: raulbvalino@yahoo.com.ph. |
