More incentives urged to curb software piracy

Give them hefty price discounts so they will buy the real thing.

Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta urged the business and software sector yesterday to give consumers better incentives — such as "hefty price discounts" — to buy original software and discard their pirated software programs.

Oreta, who chairs the Senate committee on public information and mass media, said that besides enacting a new law penalizing all forms of digital piracy, the sectors affected by intellectual property pilferage could help curb the proliferation of illegally produced materials in digital disc formats.

During the committee’s final hearing on the optical media bill yesterday morning, Oreta said the entertainment industry is presently offering licensed digital video discs (DVDs), video compact discs (VCDs) and compact discs (CDs) at lower and more attractive prices to encourage consumers to buy the originals discs rather than pirated copies.

"We hope that our friends in the business software industry could follow the movie and music sectors by similarly offering hefty discounts on the sale of copyrighted software to ordinary consumers," she said. "In this way, all sectors would be working in tandem with government in waging an effective campaign to wipe out digital piracy, which has been killing these industries."

Business Software Alliance vice president Jeffrey Hardee said during a Senate hearing that price discounts are already being offered for students, government agencies, corporations and other groups that buy software in volume.

However, Oreta said, business software firms should consider larger discounts and other incentives to make original computer programs more attractive to consumers.

She said that licensed VCDs, for instance, are now sold for only P150 to P250 to make them more affordable to consumers, while original audio CDs are sold for as low as P250.

She also allayed concerns by some consumer groups that the proposed optical media law could impose limits on non-commercial use of digital disc technology and the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression.

"Besides protecting the intellectual property rights of both local and foreign artists and information technology professionals, the optical media bill will also help ensure the survival of the entertainment and software industries in the country, which have suffered heavy losses as a result of wide-scale piracy," Oreta said.

The hearing was attended by representatives of consumer welfare groups, among them Coalition for Consumer Protection and Welfare (CCPW) president Vicente del Fiero Jr. and Consumers Union of the Philippines (CUP) commissioner Quirino Martinez, who were at the hearing upon Oreta’s invitation.

Also there were Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) president Greg Lainez, Intellectual Property Coalition (IPC) president John Lesaca, Association of Video Distributors of the Philippines (AVIDPHIL) executive director Ed Sazon and University of the Philippines College of Law professor J.J. Disini.