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27 September 2007 , Makati City – The National Committee for Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), led by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines), reports today that law enforcement agencies have confiscated P2.16 billion worth of pirated items for the year. Figure for the eight-month period comprises almost half of the total value of seized items of P4.67 billion since the committee’s creation in 2005. The Bureau of Customs (BoC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Optical Media Board (OMB), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) form the enforcement groups of NCIPR. “Improved coordination among NCIPR member agencies and partnerships with the private sector have boosted enforcement figures and shows that the campaign against fake products is sustainable,” Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Director General of IP Philippines, said. “But the challenge is still on border controls, arrests and prosecutions that lead to actual serving of sentences,” he added. From January to August 2007, BoC accounted for the biggest contribution to the total confiscated items of P2.16 billion, bringing in P847 million worth of fake goods. OMB followed suit with P762 million worth of seized products from 1,560 spot inspections in areas including Quiapo, Binondo, Metrowalk in Ortigas, Makati Cinema Square , and Greenhills, San Juan . The PNP confiscated P372 million worth of fake goods after conducting 28 operations in areas that include Binondo and Greenhills. The police has arrested a total of 86 violators to-date. “Removing counterfeit products from the market remains a national priority to protect local businesses from unfair competition and consumers from fake or substandard products, such as medicines and cosmetics, that threaten health and safety,” Cristobal said. The Department of Justice (DoJ), the Supreme Court (SC), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and the National Book Development Board (NBDB) comprise the other core members of NCIPR. According to the data submitted by the Office of the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court as of May 2007, there are 550 pending cases on intellectual property rights nationwide, 438 of which are lodged in commercial courts in the National Capital Region (NCR). “Aside from coordination, our training program pushed the figures up this year. In partnership with industry associations, the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Training Program (IPROTECT) has provided trainings to 153 law enforcers, and other government officials,” Cristobal revealed. “We have also sent judges and prosecutors from the Task Force on Anti-Intellectual Property Piracy of the DoJ to a seminar on IPR enforcement organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This is also under IPROTECT,” he said.
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