USTR keeps PH out of watchlist for 10 years, cites best practices in IP awareness
The Philippines has remained to keep out of the Special 301 Report’s watchlist for the 10th consecutive year while garnering positive recognition for its efforts to raise intellectual property (IP) awareness on national and local levels.
“The country’s continued exclusion from the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) list of countries with major IP concerns reflects wins from the awareness and regulatory efforts of the IP Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). It also shows our close coordination with members of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) and other stakeholders and partners as we work to become a greater example to the global IP community,” Director General Rowel Barba said.
The 2023 report mentioned IPOPHL’s IP Colloquium for the Judiciary, which provided training for judges of special commercial courts and organized workshops for law enforcement agents and prosecutors.
Such activity showed “the active participation of government officials in technical assistance and capacity building,” the USTR reported.
The USTR also recognized IPOPHL’s Raising the Economy by Acquiring Protection of the IP of your Community or REAP IP Program which has engaged over 160 local government units (LGUs) on IP awareness.
“Our chances in battling with counterfeiting, piracy and all IP rights violations is only as strong as the IP awareness of the nation. This is why we have the utmost gratitude towards our domestic and international cooperation partners for sharing with us their know-how in developing an IP-conscious community,” Barba said.
He added that IPOPHL has also been working with more public and private-sector offices to promote the adoption of Anti-Counterfeit and Anti-Piracy (ACAP) policies.
Once again, the report cited the Philippines as one of the “leading sources of counterfeit medicines distributed globally.”
“IPOPHL remains to challenge the publication on this. We hope they could obtain more recent available data to reflect the enforcement efforts taken after the 2014-2016 data provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which was the basis of the USTR finding,” Barba added.
The report also mentioned slow opposition or cancellation proceedings in the Philippines but did not elaborate. Barba said IPOPHL is working to implement new rules that will further shorten the total process timeline. Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines
