‘Black box’ vendors next antipiracy target

Director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), Rowel Barba. IPOPHL FACEBOOK

MANILA, Philippines — As part of its intensified campaign against intellectual property rights violators, the government will go after sellers of “black box” devices that offer unauthorized streaming services.

Rowel Barba, director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), told reporters on Monday that the agency was working with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on the guidelines for the antipiracy drive to be launched sometime this year.

“We will look at things first. So maybe we will issue the guidelines together with the NTC. So, it would depend on the results when we do the test buy and see what are the contents [of those devices],” Barba said.

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Unauthorized streaming

He cited reports showing widespread sales of these devices that offer unauthorized streaming services featuring different channels and sites.

“This has been proliferating in the market. I think it is a one-time payment of P20,000 and you get for free all the channels from the United States,” Barba said.

He added that the devices were being widely imported from a country he did not identify. These are then sold on Raon, a popular street in Quiapo, Manila, which has become popular for selling various cheap electronic products, many of which are considered illegal.

Barba said the agency would also intensify its monitoring to see if the black box devices were being sold by online market platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada.

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In addition, the IPOPHL was also working with the US Patent and Trademark Office to boost the campaign against digital piracy further.

In September 2023, Barba released the rules on the government’s campaign to disable internet access to websites promoting piracy and hosting pirated content.

Memorandum Circular No. 23-025, otherwise known as the Rules on Voluntary Administrative Site Blocking, allows rights holders or their representatives to file a takedown request for websites that feature pirated content. INQ