Intellectual property rights-related reports, complaints soared in 2020 鈥� IPOPHL
MANILA, Philippines — Reports and complaints related to intellectual property rights soared in 2020, even surpassing the total cases recorded from 2013 to 2019, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) reported Thursday.
During the online meeting of the House committee on the creative industry and performing arts, IPOPHL Director Ann Edillon said their office received a total of 190 reports and complaints concerning intellectual property rights last year.
This is more than the 146 reports and complaints they received from 2013 to 2019.
“Just to clarify, reports are coming from the public sector, consumers, anonymous reports, concerned citizens. And then complaints are those which come from the rights owners themselves,” Edillon said.
“We attribute this (increase) partially on the fact that because of COVID, everything has gone online,” she added.
Of the 190 complaints and reports received, 54 are related to piracy and 67 are on counterfeiting of goods.
Article continues after this advertisementIn terms of piracy, 38.9 percent are on pirated shows and movies, 25.9 percent are on pirated general e-books, 16.7 percent are on pirated software, 9.3 percent are on pirated educational books, and 9.3 percent are on pirated artworks.
Article continues after this advertisementIn 2020, Edillon said they received a total of 21 reports and complaints on pirated shows and movies—of this number 11 are foreign shows and movies while the remaining 10 are local.
“For foreign shows and movies, these are mostly—we have received reports of piracy regarding Koreanovelas. We reported this to the Korean Copyright Commission as well as the Korean Embassy,” Edillon said, adding they also received reports of piracy of Japanese anime and American shows.
Of the local shows and movies, two out of 10 are movies from the recent Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), said Edillon. These movies are Fan Girl and 4 Sisters Before the Wedding.
Further, Edillon noted that 19 of the 21 involved in the piracy of shows and movies in 2020 are also Filipinos.
