Philippine Piracy Levels Down in 2004

(Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Feb. 21, 2005, p. B2-4)

The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) released its report for 2004 showing that piracy rates in the country had declined in three (3) key areas: movies, business software, and entertainment software (applications and games).

For 2004, movie piracy was down to 85% from 89% in 2003; business software piracy was down to 70% from 72%; and entertainment software piracy was down to 90% from 95%. Music piracy remained constant at the 40% level.

The statistics were independently generated and submitted by the respective industries. Piracy levels were consistently on the rise since 1999, and 2004 was the first time that piracy levels in those key areas .were seen to have gone down.

Despite the favorable statistics, the IIPA still recommended that the Philippines remain on the priority watch list for now, but recommended that an out-of-cycle review be conducted in 2005 to evaluate whether their recommendations had been addressed by the Philippine government, and if so, consideration should be given to downgrading the Philippines to the watch list.

Among the IIPA's concerns was the sufficiency of the Optical Media Board budget, now that the agency's IRR's have been approved and are awaiting final publication. Other concerns included rampant book piracy through uncontrolled photocopying, broadcast piracy, end user piracy of business software, Internet piracy, and the delays in the prosecution of cases.