RP, China step up joint effort to curb piracy

The Philippines and China have stepped up cooperation efforts to crack down on piracy.

According to Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Director General Adrian Cristobal Jr., the Philippines and China have actually signed an initial agreement between the Philippine Bureau of Customs and its Chinese counterpart to crack down on illegal imports.

Furthermore, Cristobal said he had an informal talk with Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai to set up more cooperation mechanism in the campaign against piracy.

Chinese Minister Bo, Cristobal said, expressed willingness to discuss at a future date more concrete proposals regarding the matter.

At least 85 percent of the pirated goods being sold in the Philippines comes from China.

China, Cristobal said, is beginning to crack down on illegal exports after becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Cristobal said that intellectual property rights (IPR) protection is now the No. 3 priority of the Anti-Smuggling Task Force of the government.

Because of the government’s sustained efforts on IPR protection, Cristobal expressed confidence that the Philippines would not backslide and find itself back on the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) special 301 Priority Watchlist.

According to Cristobal, the government is working with all concerned agencies to assure that efforts to curb piracy and protect intellectual property rights continues.

As such, Cristobal stressed, "there is absolutely no reason to be put back in the Priority Watchlist next year or in the years to come."

Cristobal, however, welcomed the latest report of the Office of the USTR which again "strongly" urged the Philippines "to sustain and broaden progress on intellectual property rights issues in order to avoid a potential return to the Priority  Watch List in the future."

In its latest website posting, the OUSTR reported that the Philippines was lowered from the Priority Watch List to the Watch List at the conclusion of an out-of-cycle review in February this year due to substantial improvements in IPR protection.

However, the USTR said that the Philippines remains in the Watch List.

The Philippines, the USTR reiterated, needs to continue enforcing the Optical Media Act through continued inspections and raids of optical disc plants; increasing the number of seizures of pirate and counterfeit products and the machinery used to produce such infringing products; and increase the number of arrests and convictions of pirates and counterfeiters arising out of the optical disc plant inspections.

The USTR also urged the Philippines to achieve deterrence and avoid backsliding; ensure destruction of pirate and counterfeit goods and equipment used to make them; improve customs enforcement and address the problem of illegal copying of textbooks and counterfeit pharmaceuticals.