SC to join fight vs piracy

The Supreme Court will always uphold intellectual property rights notwithstanding the proliferation of pirated products in the country.

Speaking before the recent International Symposium on Networking of Training Centers and Court in ASEAN in Bangkok, Thailand, Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago said the judiciary must coordinate with Congress and the executive branch for the government to effectively enforce the law on intellectual property.

"To be more efficient, close coordination and cooperation between the three main branches of government is called for," she said. "Networking with other branches of government is crucial because the judiciary is only one part of the judicial system."

Santiago said Philippine courts have disposed of 114 cases of intellectual property rights violations in 2000 and last year, and that only 295 cases are pending.

"As a member of the highest court of the land, I can personally vouch for the painstaking efforts being undertaken by the Philippine judiciary to adhere to its policy of protecting (intellectual property rights)," she said.

Santiago said the Supreme Court has adopted a separate set of rules on search and seizure related to violations of intellectual property rights.

"There is a need for our domestic laws to conform not only to the changing needs of the local market, but also to be cognizant of the changing demands of the global market as well," she said.

Santiago said 33 courts nationwide have been tasked to exclusively handle and decide within 60 days cases of infractions of the intellectual property law.

"The Court is aware that a developed system of communication and cooperation between and among government agencies is essential to the protection and enforcement of (intellectual property rights) as their performance reflects on the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire justice system," she said.

Santiago said the Supreme Court upholds the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and that foreigners are covered by the intellectual property law of the Philippines.

"Nationals of the various member-nations are assured of a certain minimum of international protection of their industrial property," she said.

Santiago said one does not have to copy the entire work or portions of it as "substantial similarity" is enough for one to violate the intellectual property rights of another.

"If so much is taken that the value of the original is sensibly diminished, that is sufficient in point of law to constitute piracy," she said.

"The essence of infringement is the similarity or at least substantial similarity of the purported pirated works to the copyrighted work."