IP agency taking a proactive approach

THE INTELLECTUAL Property Office (IPO) is implementing a new strategy involving the use of Customs laws and the possible creation of a specialized police unit in the effort to end piracy, an official last week said.

The tack is being pursued to get around cumbersome court procedures that could delay attempts to get fake goods off the market, IPO Director-General Ricardo R. Blancaflor said.

“Our new template is to seize the goods at the port and file them for forfeiture proceedings with the Bureau of Customs (BoC) which could lead to their disposal” he told reporters.

Enforcement agencies otherwise have to file for a court case and wait for a complainant to step up before the goods can be disposed of, Mr. Blancaflor explained.

The Customs bureau, he said, was the leading contributor to the first half’s seized fake goods tally of P2.3 billion.

The IPO, Mr. Blancaflor added, is also batting for its own police team as “right now, we can only coordinate with enforcement agencies when they already have so much to do”.

An IPO-led enforcement unit might also lessen legal mistakes during raids which can hold up court proceedings, he said without elaborating.

The IPO relies on the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights for the enforcement of anti-piracy laws. The panel counts among its members the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Optical Media Board, and the BoC.

The private sector Intellectual Property Coalition lauded the IPO’s move, brushing off fears that importers could be harassed.

“If importers are legitimate, they shouldn’t fear anything,” its chairman, John J. Lesaca, said.

The Philippines remains on the US piracy watch list and was most recently ranked as the fourth top piracy center among 11 Asian economies in a Political and Economic Risk Consultancy survey. — Jessica Anne D. Hermosa
Private sector-led scheme criticized

AN ADVOCACY GROUP has come out against a private sector-led initiative of awarding an “IP Seal” to firms that comply with anti-piracy laws, saying the program burdens small businesses with high application fees.

While the group acknowledged that the scheme was voluntary, it also argued that the program would drain resources from firms hoping to ward off infringement complaints.

“The ‘IP Seal’ is, at minimum, an unnecessary exaction on the small and medium enterprises,” the Development and Intellectual Property Study Group said in a statement issued yesterday.

Under the IP Coalition program, firms have to apply for the seal and pay P5,000 to P20,000 per year depending on the size of the enterprise. It hoped the competitive nature of business would prod firms to apply for the seal.

Sought for comment, IP Coalition Chairman John J. Lesaca emphasized that the scheme was voluntary.

“We are not requiring everybody to get the seal [but] it enhances business. It shows that you are a cut above the rest,” he said in a telephone interview. — Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, Businessworld