IPOPHL, private sector back Senate bills vs. online piracy

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and various stakeholders from both the private and public sectors have expressed support for the bills seeking to curb online piracy through site blocking.

In a consultative meeting held last April 18, IPOPHL welcomed the proposed bills, noting that it has been advocating for the amendment of the 27-year-old Intellectual Property Code to include the authority to disable access to online sites infringing copyrighted materials.

The agency expressed its readiness to implement and enforce the law upon passage.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology along with the law enforcement agencies also manifested their commitment to cooperate and lend support to the moves against online piracy.

Representatives from the internet service providers (ISPs) likewise supported the measures and stressed that site blocking bills would also address other components such as detection and reporting which they said are essential in the fight against piracy.

Currently, IPOPHL with the help of the National Telecommunications Commission and major ISPs are implementing several stop-gap measures to block identified sites with pirated content pending the passage of the measure.

They, however, said that this is only voluntary and administrative in nature.

Two bills seeking to protect the creative industry against online piracy have been separately filed by Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr.

In his explanatory note, Estrada noted the "pervasiveness" of piracy in the country which he said severely hampers the growth of the creative economy and leads to loss of jobs or displacement of workers.

Meanwhile, Revilla filed Senate Bill 2385 to "empower the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to disable access to sites which infringes copyright and initiate action for site blocking."

The counterpart measures of the proposed bills were passed by the House of Representatives in May 2023.—AOL, GMA Integrated News