A hooded man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. (REUTERS FILE PHOTO()
MANILA, Philippines — The advocacy group Citizen Watch Philippines is pushing for the passage of House Bill No. 7600, which seeks to amend the 26-year-old Intellectual Property Code so that it could “respond to the context of digital online platforms.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the group urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify the bill as urgent.
According to Tim Abejo, the group’s co-convenor, the country needs to boost its creative economy, minimize opportunity loss, and protect Filipino talents and locals from online piracy.
“Online piracy harms the viability of the creative sector and undermines the values and creative spirit of our people,” Abejo said.
“It also unduly incentivizes those whose only contribution is to find ways to profit from what is not theirs to begin with.”
Abejo pointed out that the current IP Code’s definition of pirated goods does not include online content.
The bill, which was approved by the House last May, would authorize the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL) to block websites offering pirated content, a violation of the IP Code.
It would expand the enforcement functions of IPOPHIL so that it could investigate, gather intelligence, and develop countermeasures to piracy.
However, Abejo said that a counterpart of the bill in the Senate would still have to be passed.
“Pirates are fast and cunning. We must be faster and more aggressive. We can’t be stuck deliberating whether the present mechanisms are enough. While we are still talking about all these, these pirates and violators are already on their next move and profiting from their criminal acts.” Abejo said.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, he said the creative industry accounted for approximately 7.3 percent — or P1.6 trillion — of the gross domestic product in 2022. That is lower than the 7.5 percent share reported in 2018 — all because of piracy.
He added that piracy was further aggravated by the pandemic lockdowns, with “an estimated P1 billion in potential revenue losses to local video producers, distributors, and aggregators,” per the report from Media Partners Asia in 2020.
“They might continue to do what they do for the sheer love of it, but they will always entertain the possibility of working somewhere where their intellectual property is protected so that they can earn fairly and comfortably for their creative work,” Abejo said.
Moreover, he revealed that some sites also contain content promoting online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
“Right now, swift site blocking power is the apparent response to these threats,” Abejo said.
“That technology creates boundless possibilities is proven true, and in this case, the possibilities go both ways,” he added. “We have to do everything in our power to limit the bad and destructive ways that technology can be used to the detriment of our people.”