THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the IPR Business Partnership, an organization of popular global brands, will sign an agreement that will protect intellectual property rights at the 1st Philippine Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit from October 24 to 28 at the Shangri-La Hotel.
Ricardo R. Blancaflor, IPOPHL director general, noted that with the agreement, the much-needed cooperation of the brand owners in running after violators will be in place, thus, enabling state agencies the authority to conduct surveillance, apply for court warrants and conduct raids.
Blancaflor said violation of intellectual property rights applies not only for brand owners of leather goods and clothes, but even for pharmaceuticals and food.
Without the brand owners’ complaints, it would be difficult for the Philippine authorities to protect their intellectual property rights, the IPOPHL said.
“Like in Greenhills [San Juan], you can find fake bags like Hermes, but despite our efforts to get in touch with the brand owners, we have not received complaints from them. IP remains a private crime so we cannot operate without complaints from the private owners,” Blancaflor told reporters.
Allan B. Gepty, IPOPHL deputy director general, said with the agreement, the IPR Business Partnership will cooperate with the Philippine authorities in terms of information sharing and in building up and filing of cases.
“With that, we hope the cooperation will be enhanced. They are the best persons to tell us which one is fake so we need them to help us,” Gepty said.
He said even in the prosecution of offenders, the brand owners are often willing to just enter into a settlement even before the case could finish preliminary investigation, which is why the country has a low number of IP cases convictions.
Gepty said the brand owners are probably reluctant in filing complaints because of the huge cost they will incur for litigation, surveillance and warehousing of the seized items. “But we are now addressing all these concerns. In fact, we already have a warehouse in Pasay so they do not have to worry about it.”
Blancaflor said the IPOPHL and its partner enforcement agencies are confident they could surpass this year the P5.6 billion worth of counterfeit items they confiscated last year.
As of October 18, Blancaflor said the government already seized P4.9 billion worth of pirated items, with the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Customs contributing the bulk at P2.8 billion and P1.28 billion, respectively.
At the summit, Blancaflor said they also want to inform the public that piracy is also a public safety concern due to the proliferation of fake medicines and food. This year, he said about 2 percent of the confiscated counterfeit goods are medicines.
