The government confiscated P1.4 billion worth of counterfeit products, mostly optical media, in January to June, according to the latest data from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).
IPOPHL Deputy Director General Allan B. Gepty said the data indicate that government efforts are now spooking those that copy luxury items, such as watches.
“The enforcement efforts of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights [NCIPR] with member-agencies, including the Philippine National Police and the Optical Media Board [OMB], have yielded fake goods worth P1.4 billion so far in 2017,” Gepty said.
Of the total amount of fake goods seized by the government, data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that 38 percent, or P537 million, were optical media or those where digital content can be stored. These include hard drives, CDs, DVDs and USB drives.
“Optical media are regulated products. These cannot be manufactured, imported or distributed without the permits from the optical media board (OMB), and they can conduct an investigation on their own,” Gepty said.
“This is unlike other goods as intellectual-property [IP] owners and rights holders have to submit a complaint first before the agencies can secure a warrant for seizures,” he added.
The second-most pirated item was footwear, which accounted for 29 percent, or P414 million, of the government’s haul.
Handbags (P282 million) and apparel and accessories (P126 million) were the other counterfeit goods confiscated by the government during the period.
The most faked item in 2016—watches and jewelry—was markedly absent from the profile of seized products this year.
The amount of pirated watches and jewelry—considered as luxury items—seized last year alone were worth P2 billion. Gepty said the valuation was based on the original items’ price.
The value of bogus confiscated cigarettes and alcohol, a main concern in 2016, as it was the second-most pirated item, reached only P1 million in the January to June period. Last year the government’s haul amounted to P1.6 billion.
However, this may be due to the possibility that other agencies, such as the Bureau of Customs (BOC), have yet to provide the IPOPHL with updated data.
Earlier the BOC reported that it confiscated at least P1-billion worth of cigarettes with bogus tax stamps from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. In January to July last year IPOPHL reported that the government seized P2.8 billion worth of fake products. For the whole of 2016 the government’s haul reached P6.9 billion.
Gepty, however, said the value of fake goods confiscated by the government fluctuates every year and depends on the type of products. “There are a lot of factors that trigger how much we seize in a year.”
While he did not set a target for this year, Gepty added the Philippines has a “good chance” of staying out of the US Trade Representative’s 301 Watch List, an annual review of nations’ compliance in protecting IP rights (IPR).
The Philippines was first delisted in 2014, after almost two decades of being in the report, gradually easing out of its “Priority Watch List” category to the regular “Watch List” until it was finally removed in 2014.
The USTR’s Special 301 Report aims to push countries to better adhere to IPR standards; trade sanctions can be imposed by the US government on countries it has designated as a “Priority foreign country” that has consistently committed IPR violations.
“Our intellectual-property [IP] regime is still very strong. We’ve passed the necessary rules to ensure IP rights, and we have a good interagency task force,” he said.
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