The Philippines has remained off the United States Trade Representative (USTR)’s Special 301 Watch List for the 13th straight year, reflecting continued efforts to strengthen intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement.
The Philippines highlighted major progress in curbing online piracy and strengthening cooperation with e-commerce platforms in its latest submission to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for the 2025 Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy Review.
The 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy identified 38 online markets and 33 physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy in 2024.
The government is working on a plan called Overhaul Greenhills Project (OG Project) to eliminate stores selling counterfeit goods in the Greenhills Shopping Center and convert it into a high-end mall with legitimate sellers.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said it has proposed a work plan to tackle long-standing counterfeit activities in the Greenhills Shopping Center -- once again the lone Philippine market cited in the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) 2022 Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) earlier urged the Philippines to implement effective policies to ensure that government agencies do not use unlicensed software.
