Friday, January 26, 2007 Intellectual property rights' enforcement operations up
THE National Committee for Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) has released its report for 2006. Since the committee's creation in 2005, NCIPR has seized P2.4 billion worth of counterfeit items with P1.3 billion recorded in 2006.
"The numbers represent the hard work of all the agencies in NCIPR. The numbers also represent the contributions of the private sector - IP owners' associations, business chambers, and industry associations in the advocacy, education and monitoring work in upholding intellectual property rights," Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines), said.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) contributed P722 million to the total estimated value of seized goods in 2006 from conducting 26 warrant seizures and detentions. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), on the other hand, turned in P291 million worth of seized goods from 419 operations.
The Optical Media Board (OMB) confiscated fake items valued at P172 million from 706 inspections and 87 searches. The Philippine National Police (PNP), for its part, seized P131 million worth of fake goods from 259 operations.
BoC's IP Unit initiated more stringent border controls with its Automated Customs Operational System (Acos). It also established a risk assessment program and management system for data gathering. The database, once complete, will help monitor, screen and interdict confiscated goods at the border and post entry level.
Estimated value of confiscated items from 2005 to 2006 increased by P128 million or 11 percent. Actual enforcement operations, however, went down from 2,930 in 2005 to 1,453 in 2006. The concerned agencies focused on the crackdown of big ticket IP violators.
Through close coordination among NCIPR agencies which also include the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), a total of 60 convictions were handed down since 2001, fourteen of which took place in 2006.
