IP group wants RP removed from Priority Watch List

An umbrella organization of intellectual property (IP) owners has recommended that the Philippines be removed from the Priority Watch List of the Special 301 Report of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) based on the accomplishments of the government’s anti-piracy campaign.

In its recommendation sent to Sybia Harrison, special assistant to the Section 301 Committee of the USTR, the IP coalition said that following a majority vote of its members the executive committee of the IP coalition resolved to convey to the Office of the USTR its collective sentiment that the Philippines be downgraded from the Priority Watch List to the ordinary Watch List.

The IP coalition said that the country "has a doable, sensible and reasonable strategy aimed to provide an adequate level of IPR protection or enforcement."

It added that "there is no doubt that the Philippine Action Plan has worked, is working, and bearing fruit."

The group also noted that the country, "notwithstanding the economic and material shortcomings, has nurtured a robust jurisprudence on the protection of IPRs and that the lack of funds has not deterred the Philippines from fighting piracy and counterfeiting."

The coalition made it clear, however, that its stand does not modify any individual position of its members.

The IP assembly, chaired by musician John Lesaca, counts 13 organizations representing IP stakeholders from various local industries.

Among the IP stakeholders are the Business Software Alliance (BSA), Microsoft Philippines, Asosasyon ng Musikang Pilipino Foundation (AMP), Brand Protection Association (BPA), Association of Video Distributors of the Philippines (AvidPhil), Philippine Internet Commerce Society (PICS) and the Council to Combat Piracy & Counterfeiting of Patents Copyrights & Trademarks (COMPACT).

Other IP stakeholders include KATHA, Quezon City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCCI), Motion Pictures Association (MPA), American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham), Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), and the Movie Producers Distributors Association of the Philippines (MPDAP).

Speaking for the coalition, Lesaca said, "efforts of the Philippines, not only during the last 11 months, but also during the last three years, under extremely difficult economic conditions, merit some positive action."

Lesaca said that government efforts "belie any notion that the country has not provided ‘an adequate level of IPR protection or enforcement, or market access for persons relying on intellectual property protection."

The IP coalition said IPO Director General Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr. further refined its strategic action plan to give a sharper focus on public awareness and education, effective inter-agency coordination, creation of enforcement database and sustained enforcement operations.

The refinement also strengthened prosecution and adjudication of cases and specific interventions on other IP areas such as trademark, copyright on textbooks, cable piracy and others.

The USTR Special 301 Report identifies, according to levels, countries that deny adequate and effective IPR protection. "Priority Foreign Country" is the highest level designated to a country that does not address its piracy problems and is subject to US trade sanctions.

Countries in the "Priority Watch List" are those that do not provide adequate IPR enforcement, while countries in the "Watch List" are those that merit bilateral attention to address it IPR concerns.

For the past four consecutive years, the Philippines has been classified under the Priority Watch List.

In pushing for the country’s better listing, the IP coalition highlighted IPR enforcement figures and the Supreme Court’s judicial pronouncements for the improved prosecution and adjudication of IP cases.

IPO records show a total of 4.6 million pieces of fake goods with an estimated value of over P1.08 billion were confiscated from January to October 2005 through the sustained and joint efforts of the Bureau of Customs, National Bureau of Investigation, Optical Media Board and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

The IP Coalition found noteworthy the Supreme Court’s reforms on the search and seizure rules in civil actions for infringement of IPRs, streamlining of pre-trial proceedings encouraging the use of deposition-discovery measures and its favorable action on IPO’s proposal for the creation of IP courts.

The group also said that the High Court has even urged Congress to exempt judges from the government’s salary standardization law to address the lack of judges which causes the "notorious delays and backlog of almost a million cases in the trial courts as of late 2003."

The IPO’s proposal to the Supreme Court for the designation of specialized IP courts has already begun with the specialized IP training abroad of selected judges and court personnel from the Regional Trial Courts of Quezon, Makati and Manila Cities.