Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual is pushing for amendments to the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, saying the country demands stiffer provisions on creative assets to curb online practices.
Pascual pointed out the urgency to revise Republic Act 8293 during open discussions on the President’s post State of the Nation Address, saying that the Department of Trade and Industry will immediately make its proposed amendments for lawmakers to consider.
“In support of the startups, we need a strong intellectual property law. We have an existing one and I’m going to present for legislative consideration our proposed amendments so that we can strengthen its enforcement to ensure the protection of creative assets against counterfeiting and piracy,” the DTI chief said.
The DTI has been looking forward to amending the 27-year-old IPC to address defects and weaknesses amid emerging legal and technological developments, particularly to improve enforcement against the prevalence of copyright infringement.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines has consistently said that online piracy has been causing losses in the country’s revenue and would cost more if it remained unresolved.
At least two Senate bills have been filed, seeking to revise RA 8293 with provisions that will curb digital content theft and effectively address the prevalence of internet scams. The lower house had also approved on third and final reading a bill which upholds objectives similar to the Senate’s proposed measures.
While the Philippines could be commended for having done a decent job in slowly overhauling its reputation as an intellectual property hotspot, the task is yet to be completed and given the amount of time that has passed, it has become obvious that the IPC which is almost 3 decades old will need to be updated and refreshed to be more effective and relevant, which might be the push that our government needs to finally make copyright infringement untenable in this country.*
