OMB head Ronnie Ricketts to meet top US officials

MANILA, Philippines - Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Ronnie Ricketts has left for the US to meet with top US government officials and members of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) upon the invitation of the US State Department to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreements following the several commendations he received for his efforts to promote and protect intellectual property rights in the Philippines.

The USTR is attached to the Office of US President Barack Obama, and Ricketts has expressed how honored he is to receive such invitation. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) lauded the leadership of Ricketts for his novel and effective approach to curbing piracy in the Philippines.

True to the demands of his office and his zero piracy of Metro Manila Film Festival entries campaign which he began a few years back, the tireless chairman and his OMB team were up and about during the holidays to ensure the success of the campaign.  

Ricketts and the OMB have been a recipient of several awards and citations from the National Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee (NALECC) for an active cooperation in the invaluable law enforcement programs; from the PARI (music industry) for his untiring anti-music piracy push as well as in raising awareness on music copyright; MMFF for stopping piracy of festival entries for a couple of years now; from ABS-CBN for his cooperation in the launch of The Filipino Channel (TFC) last year in Singapore, Thailand and the US where the OMB Bawal Kumopya slogan gained media mileage; and from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for unwavering support and collaboration with the Inter-Agency Committee under  Executive Order No. 1016 of Pres. Noynoy Aquino. 

Ricketts is thankful for the support and appreciation of government agencies and stakeholders from the movie and music industry, and is looking forward to achieving even more this 2014.