The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has appealed to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for the removal of Greenhills Shopping Center (GSC) in its list of notorious markets of counterfeit products.
IPOPHL is also investigating, for possible takedown, two foreign websites carrying pirated films and songs.
Rowel Barba, director-general of IPOPHL, told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine International Copyright Summit in Quezon City on Monday the agency has submitted its reply to USTR on its ongoing review of its notorious markets list.
“We told (USTR) of our efforts in working with Greenhills and the local government unit (of San Juan) that there have been improvements. The selling area (of counterfeits) has significantly reduced and a lot of vendors have shifted to selling local products,” Barba said.
He added GSC management has also been implementing a three-strike rule, banning vendors which have been the subject of infringement complaint for three times.
The USTR report will be released early next year.
“We just submitted our reply and they validate that on the ground,” Barba said.
Shoes, watches and gadgets comprise most of the counterfeit goods hauled by authorities from Greenhills.
Barba said IPOPHL will release next week the outcome of its investigation on two streaming sites.
The agency successfully conducted its first takedown exercise early this year of 11 domains and subdomains under the YTS brand, one of the top piracy websites in the world.
“We take pride in this as the Philippines is the first Asia and second in the world after Germany to have site blocking rules (which we are enforcing) while we are waiting for the law. Bills are pending in Congress,” he said.
Barba said IPOPHL will discuss with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on possible action against illegal sites that use payment gateways like credit cards.
IPOPHL on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on educating political candidates on the use of original music in their campaign jingles.
Comelec will monitor the compliance of candidates as they are covered by an oath to follow all laws of the republic.
Barba reminded candidates to seek permission of artists if and when they use their original creations for their campaign materials.
