Estrada pushes revision of Intellectual Property Code

SENATE President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada sought the revision of the Intellectual Property (IP) Code of the Philippines «to quash» the piracy of Filipino-made television (TV) shows and movies.

«Piracy is considered as the greatest threat to Philippine cinema,» the senator, a former action star, said in a statement on Wednesday. He deplored «the continuous loss that the creative industry bleeds due to this crime.»

Estrada filed Senate (SB) Bill 2150 amending the IP Code of the Philippines. It seeks to disable and block access to online sites that facilitate infringement.

SEN. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada. Contributed Photo

SB 2150 imposes fines up to P1 million and an additional P10,000 per day for continuous violations. Piracy «deeply hurts the creative industry,» he said.

Piracy was evident in the case of the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which suffered earnings losses due to illegal access and unlawful consumption of festival entries across the internet, Estrada said.

«Considering the pervasiveness of these illegal activities, which severely hamper the growth of the creative economy and lead to the loss of jobs or displacement of workers, there is a need to establish regulations and effective mechanisms to protect intellectual property rights,» the bill states.

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The Philippines does not have a law blocking sites with pirated content. The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and internet service providers are only teaming up to put up stop-gap measures to block sites with pirated content.

In 2022, the Philippines lost about $700 million due to the piracy of Filipino-made TV shows and movies. The country has been named as one of the top consumers of pirated content in Asia, according to a YouGov 2022 Piracy Landscape Survey.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba estimated that the Philippines will incur about $1 billion in revenue leakage in 2027 if online piracy continues.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said piracy takes away around 7.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product. This results in forgone revenue for the country and loss of livelihood, and it even