The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) announced that the total amount of seized pirated goods in 2014 reached P13,318,090,930.41 ? the highest in the country?s history and 70-percent increase from last year?s P7,859,004,211.00.
Also in 2014, the IPOPHL was able to visit a total of 15 establishments, classified as follows: five ? by virtue of visitorial order issued by the IPOPHL, whereby it was found that one establishment was using mis-licensed software and 4 establishments were selling counterfeit products and 10 ? by virtue of inspection order issued by the Optical Media Board that resulted to seizures of 16 ? sacks of pirated DVDs and CDs, including 3 sacks of pirated computer softwares.
IPOPHL deputy director-general Allan B. Gepty, who oversees the inter-agency task force on IP enforcement, the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), emphasized that the country will continue to persevere in maintaining the steady progress on IP enforcement and claimed that the enhanced inter-agency cooperation of the committee is a good step.
The country’s anti-piracy efforts was rewarded somehow last year when the Philippines was removed from the USTR Special 301 Watch List of the US government.
The members of the NCIPR are the following: the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bureau of Custom (BOC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Optical Media Board (OMB), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Justice (DOJ), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Book Development Board (NBDB), Office of the Special Envoy for Transnational Crime, National Telecommunication Commission, Office of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the IPOPHL.
