The Philippines has achieved significant strides in safeguarding intellectual property rights, earning international recognition for its efforts, according to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
In a statement, the BOC said customs commissioner Bienvenido Rubio shared with delegates of the Asia Security Conference Exhibition in Singapore recently that the Philippines has had a clean record for 10 years in the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report and has been removed from the European Union’s intellectual property watchlist for the past five years.
According to the bureau chief, the BOC has actively cracked down on intellectual property rights violators, effectively combating the import and export of fake products.
In a series of operations from January 1 to July 14, Rubio said the BOC seized counterfeit goods worth a total of P21.3 billion.
Rubio highlighted the importance of expeditious trade facilitation through brand certification and verification by brand owners and the need for vigilance in the face of e-commerce’s contribution to counterfeiting.
Rubio urged e-commerce platforms to tighten policies and monitor retailers to prevent the sale of prohibited products on their platforms.
Meanwhile, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said 9 in 10 counterfeiting reports involve online transactions.
IPOPHL said in a statement it received 200 piracy and counterfeiting reports in the first half of the year, nearly four times from 52 in the same period in 2022.
Of the counterfeit concerns,
about 91 percent dealt with infringing activities online.
Some 69 percent cited Lazada; 20 percent, Facebook; 7 percent, Shopee; 2 percent, a collective of non-mainstream websites; and 1 percent, Instagram as the key channels used by infringers.
Piracy concerns totaled 152 of which 135 or 89 percent were filed by a single netizen who the IPOPHL said was taking a hard line on pirated gaming software, hinting at possibly being an avid gamer.
This explains why software accounted for 145 or 95 percent of piracy reports, followed by shows and movies, 6 and books and ebooks, 1.
