US lauds RP's optical media progress; software use |
The Special 301 Report of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) named the Philippines as one of the countries that “have made progress toward implementing controls on optical media production.” Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ukraine are other countries mentioned in the report that improved their optical media enforcement. “The United States,” the report stated, “continues to urge its trading partners who face pirated optical media production within their borders to pass effective legislation and aggressively enforce existing laws and regulations.” “The Special 301 Report sends a strong message that the Philippine government is serious about protecting intellectual property rights (IPR). This is the kind of small victories we need to sustain our momentum,” Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr., Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines), said. “Effective enforcement is one of the seven strategic components of the NCIPR Action Plan 2007 to 2008. The entire plan was based on the memorandum issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to committee members in 2006,” Cristobal added. The Presidential directive for this strategic component is to “intensify regular and effective (a) raids and 'spot' inspections on factories that produce illegal optical discs, trademarked and copyrighted goods, (b) seizure and destruction of pirated and counterfeited goods and equipment used to produce them, and (c) arrests and prosecutions leading to deterrent level sentences served.” “This is a clear recognition of the good work of the Optical Media Board (OMB) in 2007. OMB conducted 2,526 operations, and confiscated more than 4.8 million units of optical discs with an estimated value of P1.12 billion,” Eduardo B. Manzano, OMB Chairman, said. OMB is a member agency of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR). IP Philippines is the lead coordinating agency of the committee. “The OMB conducted the most number of raids at 443 out of the combined total of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that number 573,” Cristobal said. “Moreover, the board's legal division processed almost 2,500 administrative complaints, nine of which were on registered CD replicating facilities. OMB also filed 22 criminal complaints with the public prosecutor,” he added. The USTR report likewise commended countries that use legal software and other copyrighted materials based on the agreement made by member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2006. The Philippine government has been enforcing the agreement. Member countries also concurred that effective policies must be implemented to prevent copyright infringement on their computer systems and through the Internet. “Considerable progress has been under this initiative,” the report said. “The United States commends these governments for setting a positive example and expects these measures to be fully implemented. The United States looks forward to the adoption by other governments of effective and transparent procedures to ensure legitimate use of software,” it added. Other countries in the report that have enacted the decree or are in the process of implementing the order on government use of software are Bolivia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Lebanon, Macau, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. |
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