The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) on Thursday, Nov. 26, reported that the majority of intellectual property violators from January to September this year were operating online.
IPOPHL said it received a total of 139 intellectual property infringement reports for the first nine months of 2020, exceeding the total 129 reports received between 2015 and 2019.
Of the intellectual property violations this year, 79 were operating online – 53 from Facebook, seven from Shopee, six from Lazada, three from YouTube, and one each from Carousell, Instagram, and Vineyard.
Seven other reported violators were caught operating in other online platforms.
The IPOPHL also reported 43 complaints about counterfeit goods and 41 reports about piracy, while 51 were other intellectual property infringement reports not involving counterfeit and piracy.
As the number of complaints on intellectual property infringement this year exceeded the reports for the past five years, IPOPHL director-general Rowell Barba said they call for new rules to expand online monitoring authority.
Barba said the agency’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Office (IEO) is proposing updates to the 2013 Rules and Regulations on Enforcement.
“The primary objective of the revision is to add more disruptive enforcement functions to the IEO, such as clearly including online counterfeiting and piracy in its coverage, coordinating with the National Telecommunications Commission to take down intellectual property rights offending posts and monitor marketplaces proactively based on findings of the IPOPHL, and elevate issues found to intellectual property rights owners,” he noted. — Kris Crismundo (PNA)
