The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) proposes amendments to its rules on enforcement to cover electronic commerce, to give it more powers such as the authority to take down posts offering for sale infringing products and permanently block sellers of such products.
IPOPHL said the current rules and regulations in the exercise of enforcement functions and visitorial power of the agencydo not explicitly cover intellectual property (IP) rights-infringing activities conducted online and are, as written, not readily applicable in the online space.
“Enforcement against the sale, offering for sale, distribution, trade, display, streaming, broadcasting, and other preparatory steps necessary to make available counterfeit and pirated goods to the public via electronic, digital, or online means, provided that there is no pending case before any office, tribunal, quasi-judicial body, or court involving the same issue/s or subject matter,” the proposed expanded definition of the enforcement rules said.
This provision would allow the IPOPHL to take down posts offering for sale infringing products through a warning notice and compliance order directed to the platform, pursuant to an administrative complaint for counterfeiting or piracy lodged before it.
It may also order the immediate blocking of a seller and may file a case before the pertinent local government unit or the Department of Trade and Industry for the cancellation of the violating seller’s business permit.
The proposed amendments also expanded the definition of the “enforcement order” to include the “permanent take down, blocking, and removal of the infringing online sites or accounts; a cease and desist order; an order to remove counterfeit and pirated goods from digital and/or electronic platforms or physical establishments.”
This means IPOPHL can ask the National Telecommunications Commission to cut access to an IP rights violating site without stepping on its regulatory jurisdiction.
