Counterfeit commodity remains a serious concern in the Philippines.
As locked-down customers shop online, fake products are flooding in, prompting the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) to ask the help of concerned agencies like the Bureau of Customs to help in going against the proliferation of counterfeit and pirated goods.
On Feb. 10, representatives of IPOPHL led by Director General Rowel Barba and makers of signature products met with officials of the Customs- inoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City and discussed possible measures to intensify border protection against rampant intellectual property right violations.
During the meeting, NAIA collector Carmelita Talusan assured that adequate border security measures were in place to suppress and eradicate all sorts of smuggling activities and modus operandi involving counterfeit goods.
In fact, she said, the Customs NAIA was able to intercept smuggled faked signature products such as watches, bags, shoes, sandals, shirts, and accessories worth of P23.2 million in 2020.
In 2007, then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo authorized the Bureau of Customs to organize a special team through Executive Order 736, which creates the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights.
Meanwhile, IPOPHL revealed that complaints on counterfeiting and piracy filed in 2020 with the agency surged to 121 as the coronavirus pandemic presented lucrative opportunities for unscrupulous traders.
Records also showed that most of the complaints concerned counterfeiting while the remaining 54 were on the illegal sharing and selling of copyrighted works.
Fake apparels were mostly the subject of complaints with 39 or about 77 percent, followed by gadgets with seven (10 percent) and cosmetics with six (9 percent).
IPOPHL also stated that 22 piracy complaints involved movies and shows accounting for 40 percent in the category. E-books trailed behind with 14 reports or a 25 percent share, followed by software products with 9 or 16 percent.
Some 90 percent of the reports and complaints were sold and marketed online, with Facebook (61 percent), Unpopular websites (13 percent) Shopee (12 percent), Lazada (7 percent) and Youtube (2 percent) as the top platforms used.
“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 IPOPHL deputy director general Teodoro Pascua.
Those found guilty of violating the copyright law could face a penalty of up to three years in prison and a fine of up to P150,000 for the first offense; up to six-year imprisonment and a maximum fine of P500,000 for the second offense; and up to nine-year imprisonment and a fine of up to P1.5 million for subsequent offenses.