Joshua Villaabrille

In order to strengthen its defense against piracy, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) pushed for the amendment of the 27-year-old Intellectual Property (IP) code to mandate authorities to disable access to online sites that infringe copyrighted materials, which can be readily implemented once passed.

Photo Courtesy of VOANews.

Senate Bill 2150 and 2385 are currently filed in the upper chamber to revise the IP code of the Philippines to widen its scope to electronic and online content with the definition of pirated goods.

The Philippines lost around $781 Million due to piracy of Filipino-made TV shows and movies in 2022.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said that if this problem continues, around $1 billion in revenue could be lost in 2027.

The country loses around 7.1% of its gross domestic product due to piracy, According to a data given by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),

The IPOPHL took down the domains of six websites following a complaint filed by the Motion Pictures Association (MPA), which represents Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery.

“These websites have neither the authority nor permission, from the rightsholders, expressed or implied, to make available, publish, copy, print, reproduce, use, or make available for download or for streaming in any manner of any of the Rightsholders’ copyrighted works,” the MPA stated.

Among the copyrighted works are “Shazam!”, “Raya and the Last Dragon”, “ Girl Trip”, “Day Shift”, “Jumaji: The Next Level” and “Top Gun: Maverick” which is a small portion of samples to the widespread infringement.

“IPOPHL is committed to safeguard the rights of artists and the opportunities that could shape the future of the Philippine creative economy. As an ex-officio member of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Council, IPOPHL is one with the nation in fighting bad actors that derail efforts in cultivating a safe creative environment for artists,” IPOPHL Deputy Director General Nathaniel Arevalo said in their fight against piracy.

Internet providers collaborated with the IPOPHL and National Telecommunications Commission to establish stopgap measures to block sites with pirated content.