Group seeks malls' help against pirated goods

As the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) calls on the public to refrain from buying pirated goods, the Intellectual Property Alliance-Cebu headed by its provincial office hopes to tie up soon with big department stores in Cebu to advocate for pirate-free malls.

Josh Carol Ventura, DTI-7 chief of the trade and regulatory division, bared the DTI has received word from the head office regarding the campaign for pirate-free malls that started in Manila. The campaign is sealed with a memorandum of agreement between the DTI Central Office and the participating malls.

Ventura said the advocacy would earn for the participating malls good reputation and increase credibility since they would be known to only sell quality goods and not shoddy ones often attached to pirated products.

According to a US report on software piracy released in September 2004, the Philippines is the fourth largest country with the highest piracy rate with 72 percent. The top three countries identified in the same report are China with 92 percent, Indonesia with 88 percent, and India with 73 percent.

Ventura generally pegged the country's piracy rate between the 50 to 60 percent levels. In 1970, the country's piracy rate was at 70 percent that decreased to 61 percent the following year. In 2001, it rose to 63 percent and increase more to 68 percent in 2002, Ventura said basing the data from the Board of Investments. A reduction of just 10 percent in piracy rate in the country would generate P1 billion in new tax revenues and P 19.2 billion in contribution to the national economy as well as provide 2 thousand high-tech paying jobs, Ventura said.

Baste Balboa, outgoing president of the Philippine Association of Recording Industry - VisMin Chapter and the CEO of Alpha Music Corp.-Cebu said his company used to register P2 million in records sale annually in Cebu City alone. Due to the pirated CDs displayed publicly, record sales dove down to P700T yearly, Balboa said.

In order to curb the piracy problem, Ventura said there is a need to heighten awareness among the public on the significance of Intellectual Property Rights and the economic setbacks of piracy. Enforcement must also be strengthened while there is a need to involve the local government units to lend more teeth to the apprehension of those involved in piracy, Ventura said.

A pending ordinance authored by Cebu City Councilor Hilario P. Davide III aims to curtail the sale, rental, transfer, distribution, manufacture and/or production of pirated, counterfeit or fake goods, articles or services.