USTR cites PH best practices to protect intellectual property

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) highlighted the Philippines best practices in the protection of consumer rights, including the country’s efforts to protect against the sale of counterfeit products.

The 2024 Special 301 Report released by the USTR, an annual watch list of US trading partners performance in the protection of intellectual property right (IPR), cited the Philippines’ specialized IP enforcement units and specialized IP courts as proven important catalysts in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. The Philippines managed to stay away from the Special 301 Watch List for several years in a row already.

The report noted that in March 2024, the Philippines launched a new E-commerce Bureau under the Department of Trade and Industry, which is intended to focus on protecting consumers and merchants engaged in ecommerce transactions, including to protect against the sale of counterfeit goods online.

The USTR also cited other illustrative best practices by its trading partners in the area of IP protection and enforcement.

In addition, the USTR report cited the Philippines as among countries such as Canada, Japan, and Ukraine, that have adopted laws and enforcement practices designed to prevent unauthorized camcording.

The report said that countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Russia do not effectively criminalize unauthorized camcording in theaters. Another important practice is for the private sector to work on capacity building to help theater managers and employees detect camcording and assist law enforcement, the report added. However, the report also mentioned the Philippines as one of the leading sources of counterfeit medicines distributed globally. The report noted of a recent study by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and EU Intellectual Property Office that tagged the Philippines along with China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam as leading sources of fake medicines distributed globally.

According to the report, US brands are the most popular targets for counterfeiters of medical products, and counterfeit Us-brand medicines account for 38 percent of global counterfeit medicine seizures.