Fighting cyber piracy

By Many B. Villar / Entrepreneur

I AM tempted to say that finally we have a potent weapon in fighting theft of intellectual property as well as the scourge of cyber piracy.

I am referring to Senate Bill (SB) 2842, which seeks to amend Republic Act 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines. It has just been passed on second reading by the Senate. And there’s one more voting to be done before it is transmitted to the House of Representatives for similar action.

The bill, an end-product of eight other related bills, would effectively deter or stop theft of intellectual property and protect the rights of our artists, composers, writers, designers, programmers, animators, scientists and other professionals. As I noted in my sponsorship speech, “We must act now to respond to the onslaught of criminal activity happening under our noses, at the expense of our brilliant and creative human resources. We owe it to them to protect their body of works against copyright infringement.”

I then cited the case of Freddie Aguilar, composer of the very popular song “Anak.” Aguilar reportedly assigned all his rights to a music publisher, who now earns royalties for the song’s exploitation by third parties. And in June 2001, he was arrested and charged with copyright infringement of the song that he himself had composed and popularized.

I also referred to the experience of National Artist Levi Celerio, who wrote over 4,000 songs, including “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit,” “Ikaw,” “Bakya Mo Neneng,” and many other compositions which should have been copyrighted and earned him millions in royalties, but, alas, he died poor.

Indeed, the issue of copyright is paramount as copyright-based industries (CBIs) significantly affect the nation’s economy. According to a study commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the early 2000s, CBIs contribute almost 5 percent to gross domestic product.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance, a private-sector coalition of trade associations in copyright-based industries in the United States, recommends that the Philippines and 12 other countries be placed on the Priority Watch List of the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) 2011 Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Rights.

To be included in the USTR’s Priority Watch List means that countries “do not provide an adequate level of IPR protection or enforcement, or market access for persons relying on intellectual property protection.”

This is why we must update and amend the existing Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines to make the country better equipped to fight piracy, avert intellectual theft and protect copyrighted works.

Among the amendments proposed in SB 2842 are the establishment of a Bureau of Copyright; the regulation of Collective Management Organization (CMO), which would enable the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to monitor and promote good corporate governance among CMOs; exempt blind or visually impaired persons from securing permission for the non-commercial reproduction of copyrighted works for their use; and refine provisions on copyright infringement to include contributory infringement, circumvention of technological measures and rights management information as aggravating circumstances, and the option to collect statutory damages instead of actual damages.

Oh yes, important provisions of the Copyright Treaty and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty of the WIPO, of which the Philippines is both signatory, will be considered, such as the protection of technological measures and rights management information to provide protection for copyrighted works disseminated through the Internet.

This is a reference to the problem of software piracy in this country. As revealed by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), 7 out of 10 software programs installed in computers are unlicensed, resulting in losses of P14.6 billion in 2011. According to IPOPHL Director General Ricardo Blancaflor, software piracy in the Philippines increased to 70 percent in 2011 from 69 percent in 2010. He stressed that to encourage programmers to develop new programs there should be sufficient protection to their intellectual property.

Since software is not covered by the Intellectual Property Code, SB 2842 also seeks to amend the Intellectual Property Code and provide power to the IPOPHL to conduct inspection of companies possibly using counterfeit software, as well as address software piracy that is rampant in the outsourcing industry. As a matter of fact, the Philippines ranks 12th in software-piracy rate among Asia-Pacific countries.

And so, as I said in the beginning of this column, the final enactment of SB 2842 into law would, indeed, provide the IPOPHL and other related government agencies a very potent weapon in the fight not only against theft of intellectual property, but also against the scourge of cyber piracy!

For comments/feedback e-mail to mbv_secretariat@yahoo.com. Readers may view previous columns at www.senatorvillar.com.