Research published by the Intellectual Property Office of The Philippines (IPOPHL) found that 40% of all reported piracy was for movies and TV shows, and that 90% of IP violation reports were from online platforms; with 61% of that through Facebook.
“The exponential growth in online activities during the pandemic created the perfect entry point for pirates and counterfeiters as they took advantage of both legitimate (e.g e-commerce sites, social media) and illicit avenues (e.g dark web sites),” said Teodoro C. Pascua, Deputy Director General of IPOPHL.
Read the full summary (Press release, IPOPHL)
Why it matters
The study helped inform a national anti-piracy action plan by the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), with the following five strategies:
- Enhance capacities of NCIPR members on IP enforcement
- Strengthen collaboration with pertinent government partners to raise awareness and ensure government regulations help streamline enforcement actions
- Help IP right holders develop and efficiently implement an IP rights enforcement strategy that responds to trends in counterfeiting and piracy operations
- Develop pro-active anti-piracy processes with intermediaries such as e-commerce platforms, payment gateways and internet service providers, among others, and
- Help improve border controls
According to journalistic reporting in January by The Manila Times, all of these strategies are underway
