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THE
government has confiscated some P2.3 billion worth of
pirated items and replicating paraphernalia from January
to September this year, the Intellectual Property Office
of the Philippines (IP Phils.) reported Monday.
IP Phils.
Direct General Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said the total
haul in the first three quarters puts the interagency
task force enforcing intellectual property rights (IPR)
protection in the position of doubling its P1.35-billion
performance in 2006.
“That’s
tantamount to denying the pirates another P2.6 billion
worth of business,” Cristobal said.
Of the
total amount, P223.29 million came from operations of
the National Bureau of Investigation, P378.54 million
from the National Police, P879 million from the Optical
Media Board and P823.75 million from the Bureau of
Customs (BOC).
The BOC
haul includes four replicating machines worth P100
million each.
Cristobal said these machines are now undergoing
condemnation proceedings so they could be destroyed in
public.
Last
year the IPR task force confiscated a total of P1.35
billion worth of pirated goods and fabricating
paraphernalia, with the bulk amounting to P722.76
million again coming from the BOC.
Cristobal said the task force conducted raids in about
400 areas nationwide, with the majority of the
operations happening in Binondo, Quiapo, Metrowalk and
Greenhillls.
“The
best way to attack is still [to target] the source and
the reproduction sites,” he said.
The
government is basing the value of the confiscated
pirated items on the value of their illegally copied
genuine counterpart products and not on the retail price
of the pirated goods themselves.
From the
time the task force was created in January 2005 to
September 2007, the total value of confiscated pirated
items has reached P4.8 billion.
Cristobal said they are doing this to measure the actual
economic losses arising from piracy.
The
police arrested 88 persons during the raids conducted. |
