Intellectual piracy can be solved

The other day, I was relaxing my tired old body listening to the standard music produced by composers and singers of the not-so-distant past. Using the vinyl long playing records on my antiquated set of stereo components, I could discern the difference of the kind of songs sung by such crooners of the 1960's as Steve Lawrence, Jerry Vale and Frank Sinatra, to name a few, compared to the young vocalists of today. (Oh, I'm glad that my children also enjoy my kind of sounds. Or so they claim).

It was when I played a 1962 Sue Thompson record, like a Trini Lopez 1964 LP, which I also played, that I noticed that its jacket, was not of the same make as the others in our small collection. It was not made out of boxboard and it also carried Chinese characters. The record itself was a red colored-plastic, not black vinyl. Then, it dawned on me that it was that copy of the original which, in our modern terminology, could be called "pirated".

The realization of an apparent violation of intellectual property rights seemed to ruin my mood. No amount of soothing music from Perry Como, Andy Williams, Jack Jones, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee and other notable singers could put me back to my earlier equanimity. My disposition, charge it to my old age, just turned sour. I was so disturbed that this illegal practice, judging from the age of our collection, started decades ago and had gone unabated.

Infringement of intellectual property rights is getting rampant. There is no doubt about that. Patents and copyrights are violated. Imitations of industrial tools and equipment are in the market for everyone to see and purchase. Sunglasses, shirts, pants and many other consumer products of the "pirated" kind are sold everywhere. We buy them because they are cheaper than the real McCoys not thinking for a minute that, in cases of tools, they break so easily and in the process injure users.

It is most alarming that it is tolerated even in school campuses where the intellectuals supposedly prowl. One can see proof of this by asking a student to show his books. The bigger insult should come from law students themselves. Most of their books are hardbound photocopies of the original. I say bigger insult because they are supposed to know the philosophy underlying intellectual property rights and the training they receive from law schools is supposedly more of upholding the spirit than just knowing the letter of the law. Intellectual piracy preys more in the markets of countries like ours. I am not saying that in advanced states, there is no such problem as "pirated" products sold. They do have their share of this scourge. But, there is likelihood of infringers of intellectual property rights here, in our country, because pirated products, being cheap, are affordable to impoverished citizens. Imitations are less costly than legitimate ones because imitators do not pay taxes to the government nor give royalties to patent and copyright owners. These are huge chunks in production.

Admittedly, we have less sophisticated ways to combat violators of intellectual property rights. That is why our approach to this problem has been more of a reaction. We hunt these products in the market and seize them. Our efforts in this direction will never stop this illegal practice because we will always catch less than those which penetrate the market

I believe that like all problems, the solution to intellectual piracy lies in massive education. It must be taught in all levels of education, preached from all pulpits, contained in all brochures, spread by all media outlets, advanced by all elected leaders and implanted in the hearts and minds of all that creations of intellectual processes are sacred as the freedom of expression. When our people truly realize the sanctity of intellectual property rights, the process of hunting the violators and the prosecution of those involved, will, in due time, be a less burdensome job. Should our policy makers be able to concretize this concept, my listening to the music, in compact discs, this time, will be more pleasurable.