Complaints vs counterfeiting, piracy grow 56% in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Complaints on counterfeiting and piracy went up 56 percent in January to September from a year ago amid growing public awareness on the effects of such acts, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said.

In a statement, the agency said it received 134 counterfeiting and piracy complaints from rights holders and reports from the public as of end-September, up from 86 in the same period last year. Bulk or 103 of the complaints received comprised counterfeiting.

Apparel topped the list as it accounted for 75.7 percent or 81 of the counterfeiting complaints.

This was followed by perfume and beauty products (7.5 percent), other items such as keychain and umbrella (4.7 percent), gadgets (2.8 percent), cigarettes (2.8 percent), food (2.8 percent), pharmaceuticals and medical products (2.8 percent) and home items (0.9 percent).

When it comes to piracy complaints, the IPOPHL said TV shows or movies and educational books had the most complaints with each category having nine counts.

These were followed by software (25 percent), general e-books (15.6 percent) and artwork (3.1 percent).

Of the complaints, 74 percent came from concerned citizens.

IPOPHL deputy director general Teodoro Pascua said this “signifies the public’s growing awareness of piracy and its negative effects.”

“It’s very energizing to see that the general public is stepping up to prevent piracy from getting in our way toward recovery. IP rights holders must also be more vigilant than ever,” he said.

While complaints from IP rights holders are only at five percent, he said this does not mean a lack of enforcement as they may already be in touch with platforms to directly report and request the take-down of infringing posts or accounts.

E-commerce platforms Lazada, Shopee and Zalora have teamed up with 13 brand owners and industry associations to help address online counterfeiting and piracy through efficient take-down mechanisms in the shopping sites.

Amid the pandemic, most of the counterfeiting and piracy have taken place on online platforms with 61 percent of the complaints on Facebook, 14.8 percent on Shopee, 10.4 percent on unpopular websites, 6.6 percent on Lazada, 4.9 percent on Instagram, 1.6 percent on Carousell and 0.5 percent on YouTube.

“We encourage rights holders to continue taking advantage of platforms’ remedies to protect their IPs online. They should also work together with platforms so they can find more innovative mechanisms that can remove IP violating content at greater scale and in less time,” IP Rights Enforcement Office (IEO) officer-in-charge director Ann Edillon said.

She also encouraged IP rights holders to file a complaint with IPOPHL for when the platforms’ remedies do not work, the agency can issue an enforcement order through the IEO or temporary restraining order through the Bureau of Legal Affairs or the courts.

The enforcement order can serve as a cease-and-desist order; an order to remove the counterfeit and pirated goods or content from physical establishments; an endorsement to relevant government offices to cancel permits and licenses; and to block access to IP infringing sites in coordination with the appropriate agency.