16 October, 2008 - Philippines - THE government has confiscated some P2.21-billion worth of pirated goods in the first three quarters of the year—to be able to maintain the country’s lower priority standing in the Special 301 annual report of the United States trade representative that ranks countries with inadequate patent protection.

This was the latest report of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Phils.), the lead agency of the National Committee for Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR).

Of the seized amount, the Optical Media Board (OMB) accounted for P1.27 billion; Customs, P520 million; the National Bureau of Investigation, P209.26 million; and the police, P207.35 million.

Quiapo, Binondo, and 168 Mall in Manila are the most notorious areas for selling pirated and counterfeit goods, according to the IP Phils., which added to the list of hotspots for counterfeit trading the Makati Cinema Square, Metro Walk in Ortigas, and Greenhills Commercial Center in San Juan.

IP Phils. director general Adrian Cristobal Jr. said the intensified efforts against intellectual property violations show the government’s political will in curbing the problem. He noted the Philippines had been delisted from the priority watch list since 2006.

The IP Phils. had developed a five-point strategy to strengthen patent protection that includes galvanizing the Judiciary into speeding up IP cases, pushing for a legislative agenda to enhance IPR, pushing for local government participation through ordinances, institutionalizing permanent IP units or task forces in law-enforcement agencies, and creating specialized an IP research and training institute to focus on training judges, prosecutors, law enforcers and the IP community.

With the recent Executive Order 736, “Institutionalizing Permanent Units to Promote, Protect and Enforce Intellectual Property Rights in Different Law Enforcement and Other Agencies Under the Coordination of the National Committee on IPR,” the office has achieved its fourth objective.

Cristobal said intensified IP enforcement and institutional capacity building are part of IP Philippines’s strategies for the removal of the country from USTR’s watch list by 2010.

Adapted from Business Mirror Online Space.