25 April 2008, Makati City – Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr., Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines), today announced that the country maintained its standing in the Special 301 annual report conducted by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). US Embassy officials formally notified IP Philippines saying that after careful evaluation of the state of intellectual property rights in the country, the Philippines maintains status quo on the ordinary watch list.

This is the third year that the country is on the ordinary watch list which includes countries that the USTR perceives to have problems on IP protection and enforcement that requires bilateral talks or attention. 

The US government removed the Philippines from the Priority Watch List (PWL) and placed it on the lower level of the ordinary watch list in 2006. The country stayed on the same list in 2007.
The 29 other trading partners of the US on the 2007 lower level watch list were Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Developed countries Canada, Italy and Korea were also on the ordinary watch list.

Before the improvement on the country's standing, the Philippines had been on the PWL for five consecutive years, 2001 to 2005, classified as countries that do not provide enough IPR protection or enforcement of laws protecting IPR, or market access for persons relying on intellectual property are included in the PWL.

“The United States acknowledges the continuing efforts to increase enforcement actions against pirated optical disc production facilities and retail establishments. We also recognize the continuing efforts of the Intellectual Property Office to coordinate among IPR enforcement agencies,” the US Embassy stated.   

“This is a clear recognition of the government's political commitment to strengthen the IPR regime in the country, and the sustained campaign against counterfeiters,” Cristobal said. “Credit goes to the enforcement agencies of the National Committee on IPR (NCIPR) namely, the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Optical Media Board (OMB), the Bureau of Customs (BoC), and the Department of Justice (DoJ).”

“The enforcement agencies have accelerated their momentum. Enforcement operations yielded close to P3 billion worth of pirated items in 2007, higher by P497 million than the combined figures of 2005 and 2006,” Cristobal said.

The US Embassy likewise encouraged the Philippine government to adopt and implement an IPR action plan for 2008 that will address the concerns raised. The NCIPR has an action plan for 2007 to 2008 with seven strategic components: public information and education; effective enforcement; copyright protection; judicial reforms, adjudication and alternatives; policy and legislation; inter-agency work and public-private partnerships and; international cooperation. 

The US Embassy also voiced concerns of US rights holders on lack of results in certain areas of the IPR regime, and the persistence of high levels of piracy and counterfeiting in the Philippines. The rights holders' concern stem from lack of progress to successfully prosecute and convict IPR violators, institutionalize permanent IP units in BoC and other enforcement agencies, legislation that would weaken patent protection for pharmaceuticals and; the illegal downloading of copyright material to mobile devices. 

Cristobal said that the Philippines has made impressive gains on several fronts against IPR violations for the past three years. Moving and managing these cases of IP violators in the court is the biggest challenge for the country. But, this will be addressed vigorously through closer cooperation with the judiciary.