The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that letting customers listen to a short 20-second sample of a ringtone before buying it does not violate copyright laws as it dismissed the complaint of the Filipino Society of Composers and Publishers (Filscap) against Wolfpac Communications for copyright infringement and damages.
IPOPHL director general Brigitte M. da Costa-Villaluz said that while a work enjoys copyright protection the moment it is created, the upward trend signals a societal shift towards greater regard for copyright registration and deposit.
The IPOPHL noted that the elements of each fair use act must be carefully analyzed to accurately identify circumstances where fair use principles apply. Otherwise, the public should be proactive in obtaining permission and crediting the creators of original works.
To craft a more equitable copyright system, the Supreme Court (SC) has recommended that exemptions for small businesses be considered by Congress in addition to the existing limitations in copyright infringement cases under the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (IP Code).
The Department of Trade and Industry - Bureau of Philippine Standards (DTI-BPS) has called on commercial training centers to “cease reproducing -- digitally or in print -- copies of standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), including those adopted as Philippine National Standards (PNS), as such practice constitutes copyright infringement”.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL) should have the power to disable access to websites that are being used to infringe on copyrights or facilitate copyright infringement, according to Kabayan party-list representative Ron P. Salo, who is pushing for the passage of House Bill 8001.
