The Philippines has a 71% piracy rate, making it one of Asia's largest consumers of pirated content. Proposed amendments to the Intellectual Property Code would strengthen anti-piracy measures by giving authorities the power to shut down infringing websites directly.
As mentioned in my previous post, according to the Asia Video Industry Association's Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) 2024 annual consumer survey by YouGov, the Philippines is among the biggest consumers of pirated content in Asia. Piracy rose 13% yearly, with a population piracy rate of 71%, marking it as one of the region's hotspots.
The recent proposal to amend the 27-year-old Intellectual Property Code in the Philippines, Senate Bills 2150 and 2385, is a significant effort to implement more robust anti-piracy measures and should be welcomed.
The proposed legislation aims to empower local authorities to address the ongoing issue of online piracy more effectively. It aims to simplify enforcement and discourage consumer use of pirated websites by blocking access without lengthy procedures.
The Daily Tribune reports a staggering statistic:
"According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), piracy takes away around 7.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product."
The article also quotes a Filipino think tank, Stratbase ADR Institute:
"Online piracy disrupts the marketplace of creative works because it allows the use of illegal means to benefit from the work of others. It causes great demoralization, on top of financial loss, to those who invest not only their resources but also their hard work and passion in what they do,".
The revision is vital to improving enforcement measures and aligning with international standards and similar site-blocking regimes to protect intellectual property rights. With the constantly changing digital landscape, copyright infringement methods are becoming more sophisticated, making it crucial to have updated tools to stay ahead of these challenges.
This revision could be pivotal in providing the necessary tools to reduce the financial losses attributed to piracy and ensure that creators and industries are protected.
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