The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) signed a letter of understanding (LOU) to gain access to with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) alert data sharing platform to enhance the former’s site-blocking process.
WIPO has a list of internationally-known pirated websites that can IPOPHL can access to prevent security and data breaches in the Philippines.
The LOU signed by IPOPHL director-general Rowel Barba and WIPO director-general Daren Tang onboarded the Philippines into the platform.
“Having access to such a vast database, IPOPHL can strengthen its review of web addresses concerned in site-blocking requests. If a website of concern is found on the WIPO Data Sharing Platform list, IPOPHL has more persuasive evidence to request the National Telecommunications Commission to disable access to the site,” Barba said.
The partnership allows IPOPHL to gain intelligence on all the websites which other WIPO member states reasonably suspect and enlist as intellectual property (IP) infringing.
IPOPHL can also contribute to the inventory of so-called “sites of concern” by uploading its own “national list.” The office is tasked to promptly update this list to remove any web address which is not justified to be of concern or has ceased to be so.
IPOPHL deputy director general Ann Claire Cabochan welcomed a new area of cooperation with WIPO and expressed hope to maximize the partnership for the benefit of the creative industry.
“This partnership could help ensure the reliability and integrity of the country’s site-blocking process. This will help our creative industry thrive freely and deal proactively with piracy,” she said. The site-blocking mechanism will take effect on Nov. 21, 2023. It is seen to address rampant piracy in the Philippines which ranked third in East and Southeast Asia in 2020 in terms of consumers admitting to visiting piracy websites.