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IP News
IP Philippines Reports on IPR Cases “Effective prosecution and adjudication is a strategic component in strengthening the intellectual property regime of the country,” Cristobal said. “The 2005 to 2007 figures on fake goods seized indicate that the Philippine government can sustain enforcement operations through effective inter-agency coordination. However, the big challenge now is moving these cases in the courts,” he added. IP Philippines is likewise calling on the cooperation of private law firms in sharing data on convictions and other pertinent information related to monitoring intellectual property cases. The information from these firms would provide an accurate picture of the prosecution status of IP cases in the country. In an effort to move cases involving IP violations, the Department of Justice (DoJ), an NCIPR member, has recently added 20 prosecutors to its Task Force on Anti-Intellectual Property Piracy. IP Philippines together with the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA) and the National Judicial Institute-Canada (NJI-Canada) conducted an advanced course on IP law for commercial court judges in 2006. In recognition of the importance of IP to the country’s economic development, Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno of the Supreme Court appointed Cristobal mid 2007 as a member of the Sub Committee on Commercial Courts under the Committee on the Revision of the Rules of Court. IP Philippines has been advocating the establishment of special intellectual property trial and international trade courts as one of its strategies to have effective prosecution and adjudication. “Prosecution of counterfeiters and IP violators is the priority,” Cristobal said, “We are calling on the cooperation of trademark and copyright owners, especially their lawyers, to file charges and pursue these cases vigorously, and provide the NCIPR with an inventory of their cases pending in the courts. This is where all the efforts of the private sector and the different government agencies converge,” Cristobal added. NCIPR members namely, the Optical Media Board (OMB), Bureau of Customs (BoC), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) pulled in the highest recorded total estimated value of almost P3 billion in 2007. In 2005, the four law enforcement agencies seized P1.14 billion worth of pirated items and P1.35 billion in 2006. In 2007, the Intellectual Property Rights Division of NBI filed 423 cases and served 310 search warrants. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of PNP, in its report, stated that it filed 28 cases, served 242 search warrants, and arrested 59 individuals. Data on convictions from 2001 to 2007 show that most of the violations include trademark infringement, unfair competition, and copyright infringement under Republic Act 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines. Others include violations of Republic Act 9239 or the Optical Media Act, and Republic Act 8203 for counterfeit drugs. Intellectual property enforcement and institutional capacity-building is one of eight sectors representing IP approaches in the Philippine Intellectual Property Policy Strategy (PIPPS). The policy strategy was presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the National Innovation Summit on November 26, 2007.
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