Alliance lauds Phl efforts against piracy

MANILA, Philippines - The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) has lauded the Philippine government’s efforts to address piracy and intellectual property rights abuses in the country in its 2013 Special 301 Review submitted to United States Assistant Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation Stanford McCoy last Feb. 8.

The IIPA, a private sector coalition of trade associations representing US copyright-based industries working to improve international protection and enforcement of copyrighted materials formed in 1984, furnished a copy of the report to Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Ronald Ricketts, who then submitted it to Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma.

In the report, IIPA members lauded the leadership of the Philippine government, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines director general Ricardo Blancaflor, and Ricketts “for taking novel and effective approaches to dealing with piracy in the Philippines and further modernizing protection.”

The report cited the government’s concrete steps in curbing the problem such as the removal of piracy from Quiapo and markets located in areas like St. Francis Square in Mandaluyong and Makati Cinema Square; the passage of the anti-camcording law; the issuance of Supreme Court Rules of Procedure for Intellectual Property Cases; the establishment of administrative enforcement functions of the IP Office; and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Philippine National Police and the OMB to ‘remove red tape’ as proof of the government’s willingness to curb piracy.

These, the IIPA cited, are “evidence of the will of the Philippine government to tackle piracy and create space for legitimate creative businesses to grow.”

The IIPA also elevated the Philippines to a Commendable Special Mention Category “to denote positive progress in several key areas for protection of creative content warranting recognition,” thereby removing the country from its watchlist category.