The House Committee on Information and Communications Technology and the House Committee on Trade and Industry has jointly created a technical working group (TWG) to fine tune a proposal enabling the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to cancel licenses of Internet service providers that allow web sites to infringe or to facilitate infringement of copyright.
Rep. Ron Salo of Kabayan party-list, chairman of the TWG, said proposed Online Infringement Act seeks to protect the entire Filipino entertainment industry.
Once this bill becomes a law, Salo said local creative wizards—musicians, filmmakers, content providers, and the entire Filipino entertainment industry will be protected from unauthorize use of their works, saving them losses amounting to billions of pesos.
The bill seeks to prevent access to common sites used for infringement and empower IPO to shut down rogue web sites within Philippine jurisdiction.
According to Salo, the IPO should have the power to disable access to web sites that are being used to infringe on copyrights or facilitate copyright infringement.
“House Bill 8001 lays down the necessary legal framework, which will facilitate the proper coordination and support between the IPO and the National Telecommunications Commission [NTC], in restricting access to web sites that are being used to facilitate copyright violations,” Salo said.
Under the bill, IPO shall make recommendations to the NTC to cancel the license of an Internet service provider that refuse to comply with an order from the IPO to take reasonable steps to disable access to an infringing online location; failure to comply with an order within 10 day of its issuance and without the requisite written explanation and action plan; and any gross violation of this proposed act.
The lawmaker said there are common sites used for illegal distribution of copyrighted materials which operate outside the Philippines, oftentimes in Eastern Europe.
“Since those rogues operate outside of Philippine jurisdiction, the proper course of action would be to prevent our access to those sites,” he added.
Salo said that for “meritorious cases” the IPO would have the authority to recommend to the NTC, the cancellation of licenses of Internet service providers involved in copyright infringement.
“With the advent of cyberspace, copyright infringement has taken a new form which is beyond the reach of the country’s administrative and regulatory agencies such as the NTC and IPO,” the party-list lawmaker said.