ILOILO City – The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) held a two-day Intellectual Property (IP) workshop for law enforcement agents and public prosecutors here from Nov. 28 to 29 in view of furthering IP rights enforcement in the region.
A total of 100 participants were briefed on the IP law, underwent training to better identify counterfeit goods, and learned about practices that safeguard markets from counterfeiting and piracy.
The IPOPHL is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which administers, implements, and reinforces protection of IP rights as prescribed by government policies.
According to IPOPHIL director general, lawyer Teodoro C. Pascua, the agency’s goal is to raise awareness among Filipinos about their respective intellectual property rights and provide market space for their local patents.
“We are conducting this kind of campaign in order to capacitate our law enforcement agents in the implementation of IP rights protection based on Republic Act 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines,” said Pascua.
Pascua explained that counterfeiting basically applies to those consumable goods, while piracy covers content such as film, music, radio broadcasts, and the like.
Meanwhile, the IP Rights Enforcement Office (IEO) aims to forge connections between local governments and educational institutions in order to develop their Anti-Counterfeit and Anti-Piracy (ACAP) policies, which will encourage efforts to turn excellent ideas into tangible and valuable IP assets. (PIA)/PN