Congress could soon amend the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines by imposing stiffer penalties against piracy.
“Making the provisions of the Code under RA 8293 more stringent and imposing stiffer penalties would help stifle intellectual property piracy which has become evident in almost all nooks and corners of the country,” Aklan representative Teodorico T. Haresco Jr. said.
Haresco is author of HB 2324 which proposes to amend the penal provisions of RA 8293 currently provided under Section 217.1 by increasing the penalties for violators, including those abetting or aiding such infringement of the Code.
“The government’s effort to stop piracy has become an exercise in futility,” the author lamented.
The proposed increased penalties are:
(a) imprisonment of one year to four years plus a fine ranging from one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) to five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) for the first offense;
(b) imprisonment of four years and one day to eight years plus a fine ranging from P500,000 to P1 million for the second offense;
(c) imprisonment of eight years and one day to 12 years plus a fine ranging from P1 million to P2 million for the third and subsequent offenses.
The purpose of this bill is to strengthen the provisions of RA 8293 as regards infringement so as to deter the production and manufacture of counterfeit articles such as CDs, bags and apparels, Haresco stressed.
“We have to make sure that the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artist and other gifted citizens are shielded from illegal reproduction of their works as guaranteed by the Constitution under Article XVI, Section 9 and Article XIV, Section 13,” Haresco concluded.
