Retains RP in watch list of intellectual property rights violators

US tags hawker centers as ‘piracy hotspots’
 
THE US Trade Representative Office (USTR) has tagged Quiapo and Binondo in Manila, Greehills in San Juan, Makati Cinema Square, as well as Metrowalk in the Ortigas Business District, as “piracy hotspots.”

In its Special 301 Report issued on April 30, the USTR said it has retained the Philippines on its “watch list” given what it referred to as the government’s “vain” efforts to protect intellectual property rights (IPR).

The US agency dubbed Quiapo as a “notorious market” where “street stalls in this neighborhood are notorious for selling counterfeit and pirated merchandise.”

While President Arroyo earlier ordered sanctions against landlords who entertain tenants peddling pirated items, the USTR complained that no landlord has been prosecuted.

The Philippines joined 32 other countries on the watch list, which require bilateral attention to address IPR concerns. Manila has been on the watch list since 2005.

“Unfortunately, despite the continuing efforts of some Philippine officials—notably, in the Intellectual Property Office, Optical Media Board, and [Bureau of] Customs—to improve enforcement there is no deterrent mechanism in place to dissuade IPR infringers from their illegal activities,” the USTR said.

“Additionally, the digital environment has created more challenges that the [Philippine] government has not addressed, such as peer-to-peer piracy, mobile piracy, and illegal camcording,” it added.

The USTR said the Philippines should “put in place mechanisms and laws that will address the weakness in its current system, such as specialized IP courts and legislation to implement the WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organization] Internet Treaties and to address illegal camcording.”

Furthermore, the US agency expressed concern over “amendments to the patent provisions in the Philippines Intellectual Property Law only as they apply to pharmaceuticals.”

“The amendment significantly weakens patent protection for pharmaceutical products,” it said.

The USTR said it would conduct an out-of-cycle review for the Philippines this year.

The Philippines’ retention in the watch list is a blow to efforts by the Intellectual Property Office (IP Philippines) to boost the country’s IPR regime.

In March, the agency had said the government’s intensified IPR protection efforts should be enough to take the Philippines off the watch list.

IP Philippines earlier reported that the value of counterfeit goods confiscated by the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) has been increasing by 52 percent yearly since 2005, with about P9-billion worth of counterfeit items confiscated up to last year.

In 2008, NCIPR member-law enforcement agencies seized P3.5-billion worth of fake merchandize, up 17 percent year-on-year.

For the 2009 Special 301 Report, the USTR reviewed 77 of America’s trade partners, of which 46 were placed on the “priority watch list,” watch list, or the Section 306 monitoring list.

Countries in the annual Special 301 Report’s priority watch list are those deemed unable to provide sufficient IPR protection, law enforcement, and market access for persons relying on IPR.

This year, the USTR elevated Algeria, Canada and Indonesia to the priority watch list, with nine other countries to be the “subject of intense engagement through bilateral discussion” within the year.

The 2009 Special 301 Report also highlighted the continuing prominence of IPR problems in China and Russia.

The USTR removed South Korea from the watch list for the first time, although it would continue to monitor the Internet piracy situation there.

Paraguay would remain under Section 306 monitoring under a bilateral memorandum of understanding.

The report recommends trade barriers or sanctions for countries perceived lacking in IPR protection efforts.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Special 301 Report, which was first issued in 1989 in accordance with the provisions of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. –Ben Arnold O. de Vera, Reporter, Manila Times