Philippines scores higher in U.S. Chamber's International IP Index 2020

February 14, 2020

The Philippines saw an increase of nearly four percentage points in the United States Chamber of Commerce’s (USCC) 2020 International Intellectual Property (IP) Index mainly due to the cooperative approach the country has taken against online counterfeiting and piracy, as well as the addition of new indicators in which the country scored remarkably.  

In the index, launched by the USCC’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) on Feb. 5, 2020, the Philippines’ overall index score stood at 39.94% as it fared positively in 19.97 indicators out of 50. This marked an impressive increase from 36% for 16.2 out of 45 indicators in the 2019 index. 

The index cited as a contributing factor the country’s 0.25-point climb in the “Availability of frameworks that promote cooperative private action against online sale of counterfeit goods” indicator.

The index also noted the country’s “strong performance” in indicators it added this year, namely: “Plant variety protection, term of protection” in which the Philippines scored 1 point; “IP-intensive industries, national economic impact analysis” with 0.50 point; and “Membership of the Convention on Cybercrime, 2001” with 1 point.

Although rankings appeared unchanged at face value, it should be noted that the USCC added three more economies into its scope. This means a more accurate look into an economy’s standing will require the use of percentile ranking; on this basis, the Philippines moved 70% closer to the top, from 74% in the previous year.

“We welcome the findings of USCC-GIPC’s report. We are most glad for its careful and positive observation on the progress of the country’s intellectual property rights environment, especially on enforcement which is entrenched in IPOPHL’s (Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines) endeavor to protect creativity and innovation,” IPOPHL Officer-in-Charge Director General Teodoro C. Pascua said.

Enforcement efforts earn recognition

The USCC-GIPC took stock of IPOPHL’s focus group discussion with e-commerce players in August 2019 where the Office and the private sector explored ways to more effectively respond to violation notices and thwart online access to counterfeit goods. It noted the anti-infringement efforts which some of the country’s biggest online retailers, specifically Zalora and Lazada, voluntarily put in place also in 2019. 

USCC-GIPC also highlighted significant efforts to make the local environment more conducive to creative industry players. It said: “In 2019, the Philippines moved closer to adopting substantive changes to its copyright environment that will provide rights-holders with more effective ways of combating online infringement.”

Supporting this observation are two pending legislations the report pointed out: House Bill 9148 or the New IP Act and Senate Bill No. 497 or the Philippine Online Infringing Act.

The proposed New IP Act intends to, among others, give IPOPHL the power to issue notice-and-takedown orders to address online piracy and counterfeiting. The bill would also enable copyright owners to claim damages from infringing sites and grant them ownership of the domain name of the infringing site. 

Meanwhile, the Philippine Online Infringing Act intends to grant IPOPHL the power to order the cancellation of an internet service provider’s (ISP) operating license should the ISP fail to remove infringing content within 10 days from receiving a notification from IPOPHL.

USCC-GIPC expects the Philippines to score better in relevant indicators once more positive advancements in these areas are made. It added it will continue to monitor developments in the country's IP protection scene.

IPOPHL’s Pascua said 2020 will be “an exciting time” for the IP Rights Enforcement Office (IEO), the team at the forefront of IPOPHL's enforcement efforts.

“IEO will soon be ironing out its enforcement guidelines to keep in step with modern business models. It has also identified critical players in the supply chain of counterfeit trade with whom we believe we should engage. We want to encourage them to set up their own mechanisms that will prevent counterfeiters, including those indirectly contributing to counterfeit trade, from utilizing their channels for criminal operations,” Pascua said. 

Now in its 8th edition, the 2020 Index benchmarks the IP framework in 53 global economies using 50 indicators which industry believes are representative of economies with the most effective IP systems. The indicators span nine categories of protection: patents, copyrights, trademarks, design rights, trade secrets, commercialization of IP assets, enforcement, systemic efficiency, and membership and ratification of international treaties.