Inter-agency body vows intensified crackdown on counterfeit products

MANILA, Philippines — The National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) has vowed to intensify its crackdown on fake goods, warning vendors against selling counterfeit products.

The inter-agency body is embarking on a broader and coordinated government campaign to crack down on vendors, distributors, and sources of counterfeit and pirated goods in Metro Manila. 

The campaign will be elevated and intensified from information dissemination to eventual confiscation in the following months in other hotbeds of counterfeit and pirated goods in Metro

NCIPR conducted last Friday a surprise inspection on a well-known San Juan marketplace where it issued notices to vendors, reminding them to comply with intellectual property-related laws. 

“Selling fake goods is illegal. Activities in violation of the intellectual property-related laws are not only the concern of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). This is taken as a serious matter by all agencies involved in curtailing the illicit trade of counterfeit and pirated products,” IPOPHL director general Josephine Santiago said. 

NCIPR is chaired by the DTI, with the IPOPHL serving as its vice chair. Other members are the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Bureau of Customs, National Telecommunications Commission, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Optical Media Board, National Book Development Board, Food and Drug Administration, and the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crime. 

IPOPHL deputy director general Teodoro Pascua cited the need to focus on local piracy hubs as these have already become known tourist spots in the country. 

“Through a resolution agreed on by NCIPR agencies in March, there will be regular inspections of these hubs, with the end goal of making physical marketplaces intellectual-property compliant,” he said. 

Pascua said implementing a holistic approach to the enforcement of intellectual property rights could lead to a domino effect of uncovering other infractions. 

In the inspection of counterfeit goods, he said other illicit activities of the business-owner can be exposed such as the improper payment of Customs duties and income taxes. 

With the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue involved in the NCIPR, the process of apprehending perpetrators could be expedited, Pascua said. 

“The sale of counterfeit goods and services crowds out the space for legitimate goods emanating from micro, small, and medium scale producers or emerging businesses,” Pascua said.

NCIPR earlier reported that some P8.2 billion worth of counterfeit and pirated goods were seized by he inter-agency body last year, the biggest haul by the government since 2014.