DTI defends the imposition of IP seal fee

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebu office defends the imposition of an IP (Intellectual Property) seal fee, which the internet cafes have strongly opposed.

DTI-Cebu Provincial Director Nelia Navarro said the fee is meant to cover for the expenses needed for the coalition to facilitate the evaluation and audit of the degree of compliance with the IP laws of a business establishment in their operations, including the use of licensed and legal software.

“The (awarding) of the IP seal is not automatic. There are inventory forms and IPC has to work with other (organizations) to help them evaluate the establishments. The fee is really to cover for the expenses,” she told The FREEMAN.

Cebu is the first city in the country that will experience the benefits of the IP (intellectual property) seal campaign, a multi-dimensional program to raise public awareness on the intellectual property rights (IPR) at the corporate, retail, Internet Café, and consumer levels of the Intellectual Property Coalition (IPC)

As such, the city is the “guinea pig” for the project, said I-Café Pilipinas president Ed Zafra.

He said I-Café is against the imposition of a fee from P5,000 to P20,000 charged by the IPC to establishments that want to get hold of the IP seal, saying this could be a venue for graft and corruption instead of helping the government crack software piracy.

The IP seal campaign of the IPC was endorsed by the IP Office of the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry-Cebu Office and the PAPT.

Navarro said the DTI-Cebu takes part in the developmental concerns such as promotions of implementing the IP code in Cebu

Pilipinas I-Café’s Zafra said the organization is now seeking the advice of some lawyers on the legality of arrangement entered into by PAPT and the IP Coalition because private businesses like iCafes are being forced to avail of the seal or else their establishments will be subjected to inspections.

“They are imposing it for the first time in Cebu. We can’t do much to retrain its imposition because we are here in Manila,” he told The FREEMAN.

I-Café is the national advocacy organization of the Internet café owners and other stakeholders in the internet café industry in the country. The organization has initiated the “No to IP seal campaign” to tell the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) that there are some legal issues to be addressed with regard to the program.

The PAPT, composed of the National Bureau of Investigation, the Optical Media Board and the Philippine National Police has maintained an agreement with the IPC which says that PAPT will spare business establishments bearing an IP seal in the hassles of inspection. The IP seal is awarded by the coalition to businesses that observe compliance with the IP laws in their operations, including the use of licensed and legal software.

“We emphasize the use of legal and licensed software by our constituents and had been supportive of the recent Microsoft I-Café Program that offered affordable licensed software to i-cafés using pirated or cracked software. As an organization, I-Café Pilipinas understands the effects of software piracy to the economy and we endeavor to help in lowering the PC software piracy rate in the country,” Zafra said.

He added that the IP Seal is a creation of a private entity and that it is not proper that the seal will become the basis of PAPT in performing its task of enforcing the IP Code of the Philippines.