By Victoria “NIKE” De Dios
Amid the agency’s sustained education, information and dissemination drive awareness of the importance of respecting the intellectual property (IP) of the authors, IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba laments that insidious and wanton infringement of the IP bandits lurking in cyberspace.
Speaking at the Philippine Book Festival in Davao City, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) joined and expressed full support in helping more creative Davaoeños and Davaoeñas to protect their copyright and learn the importance of respecting the intellectual property (IP) of fellow authors.
The IPOPHL Chief bared the continuous threats of digital content pirates to the book publishing industry.
“The bandits… they’re no longer just hiding in the shadows of dark alleys; they’re sailing digital seas that are vast and dark and rough with treacherous waves, making it tougher than ever to keep them at bay,” he said at the KaIPhan Press Conference at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang where the three-day event of the National Book Development Board (NBDB) is also being held until August 20, 2023.
“So our writers, our illustrators and our publishers have been living in a long-running episode of conflict. The cliffhanger we want is to keep the book industry’s treasure locked while still letting people have a taste of the sweet words from these literary fruits,” Barba added.
To address these conflicts, the IPOPHL chief emphasized the importance to educate and push for legal frameworks that create lasting change.
Barba shared that IPOPHL’s draft guidelines for voluntary site-blocking have been finalized and await internet service providers (ISPs) to be on-board through a memorandum of understanding. With the new rules soon in place, rights holders will be able to finally request IPOPHL to order the blocking of a pirated site. If concerned sites are confirmed to be perpetrating piracy through a thorough assessment by the IP Rights Enforcement Office, IPOPHL will ask ISPs to act on these requests.
IPOPHL’s upcoming site-blocking measure could be strengthened by House Bill 7600, authored by Albay’s 2nd District Representative Joey S. Salceda, and its counterpart in the upper house, Senate Bill 2150, authored by Senator Jinggoy E. Estrada. The House bill has been approved by the House of Representatives on third reading and the Senate bill was filed last May.
“If passed into law, these measures will allow IPOPHL to issue the appropriate site-blocking orders and ISPs will have to comply with the order within 48 hours,” Barba added.
In making copyright education more accessible to Filipinos, IPOPHL expressed appreciation for the NBDB’s commitment to support the Office in its thrust to spread copyright awareness across the country.
It may be recalled that IPOPHL partnered with the NBDB in June to bring copyright awareness to its biggest local book festivals which garner high traffic from both adults and children.
During the press conference, Bureau of Copyright and Related Rights (BCRR) Director Emerson G. Cuyo gave an overview of the functions and mandates of the Bureau, encouraging Davaoeños and Davaoeñas to register their copyrighted works at the BCRR to provide additional protection over their works.
“Year to date, the BCRR has already surpassed its goal of hitting 4,000 copyright registrations for 2023, indicating just how eager Filipinos are in protecting their creative assets. I’m sure Davao has a treasure trove of artistry to guard so I hope each of you protect them through the BCRR,” Cuyo said.
For those interested to know more about copyright, attendees of the Davao Caravan can catch BCRR’s Accreditation and Standards Division Assistant Chief Exequiel D. Valerio as he talks about the basics of copyright on August 19 and copyright in the digital age — with a special focus on artificial intelligence — on August 20.