IPOPHL: $781 million in PH revenue lost to online piracy in 2022

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said on Tuesday that a study found that the Philippines lost $781 million in revenue in 2022 due to online piracy.

Testifying before the Senate Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship Committee - which was looking into the anti-piracy bills filed in the Senate - IPOPHL Director General Atty. Rowel Barba said the Media Partners Asia's study looked into the country's losses due to video piracy. 

"In 2022, there were 20 million Filipinos who downloaded from illegal sites and the loss was $781 million. And if nothing is done, by 2027, the number of illegal users will increase to 31 million and the leakage will be $1 billion. Hindi pa po kasama 'yung (excluding the) taxes," Barba said.

Government revenue lost due to online piracy has yet to be computed.

Ariel Tubayan, vice president for legal policy of Globe Telecom, explained that online piracy hindered the collection of government revenues "from the access that has foregone from consumption of pirated contents."

While technology helped flag content produced by the company but was later pirated, GMA Network legal counsel Allan Rafael said several perpetrators of online piracy had set up pay-per-view sites for these illegally obtained materials.

"Some are offering pay-per-view also, similar to what Netflix is doing. I think this is where malware is rampant because they have to pay using credit cards," Rafael said.

For Rafael, site-blocking would have a "huge impact" on piracy's effect on the creative industry.

Proposed measures

Meanwhile, the Senate tasked a technical working group to consolidate and refine the measures proposed by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla Jr.

Senator Mark Villar, who presided over the hearing, explained that the bills intended to empower the IPOPHL to prevent access to sites that infringe or facilitate copyright infringement and introduce procedures for preventive action and site blocking.

"Kaya kung hindi natin ipapasa itong batas, kawawa 'yung mga stakeholders sa ating creative industry," said Villar.

"Napakalaki ng nawawala sa kanila. Nababawasan ang kita nila, nasisira ang industry and of course, hindi na natin alam kung saan napupunta 'yung revenues. Baka napupunta lang sa abroad, so nawawalan din tayo ng income." — DVM, GMA Integrated News