South-East Asia IPR Basics Series: Copyright In The Philippines.

17 May, 2016

 

Copyright is the right of the writer or creator of any work to determine how that work is published, adapted, distributed, marketed, or otherwise used and profited from. Typically, copyright is automatically conferred, meaning that SMEs’ creative works are immediately protected as their IP. However, the unfortunate truth is that copyright is not always respected and SMEs may need to take extra steps to protect their IP.

 

This latest installment of our South-East Asia IPR Basics series will look at how copyright is handled in the Philippines. For more information, be sure to visit our website or contact one of our experts.

 

The Philippines: a background for SMEs

 

The Philippines is an emerging, newly-industrialized market with the world’s 39th-largest economy, according to the World Bank. With Q2 2015 GDP growth of 5.6% and the EU-Philippines Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in 2012 set to be implemented soon, the Philippines presents a number of ready business opportunities for European SMEs. Low wage inflation, consistent liberalizing reforms to the economy and regulatory efficiency, and a free banking sector contribute to the Philippines’ Ease of Doing Business score of 95. Balancing these strengths are lingering issues with corruption and an inefficient and political judiciary.

 

The EU is the largest investor in the Philippines, contributing roughly 8 billion euros, or 30% of FDI, while EU-Philippines trade reached 12.47 billion Euros in 2014. Major EU exports to the Philippines grew an average of 16.1% per annum from 2010 to 2014 and included machinery and transport equipment (58.8%), chemicals and related products (11.5%), and food and live animals (10.3%) in 2014. That year, primary Filipino exports to the EU included machinery and appliances (60.2%), optical and photographic instruments (11.1%), and animal or vegetable fats and oils such as coconut oil (6.2%).

 

The Philippines is a member of the following international conventions regulating IP matters[1]:

 

• Patent Cooperation Treaty
• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
• Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization
• WIPO Copyright Treaty
• WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
• Madrid Agreement and Protocol
• ASEAN Framework Agreement on Intellectual Property Cooperation
• ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement

 

Copyright in the Philippines

 

Copyright is the right of the author to an artistic or creative work and the right to control its performance, distribution, replication, etc. The only requirement for a copyright is to create the work. As soon as a work is created, copyright is immediately conferred upon the author. If there are multiple authors, they share copyright over the works. However, if the work was created by an author during his employment, then the copyright belongs to the employer. Copyright is also distinct from physical items, meaning that the transfer or possession of a work or even of the sole copy of a work does not grant copyright over that work. The Philippines’ Intellectual Property Code (Republic Act No. 8293) states that the Bureau of Copyright and other Related Rights (BCRR) is in charge of copyright-related affairs and identifies the following in particular as covered by copyright:

 

• Books, newspapers, letters, scholarly or literary works, and dramatic compositions
• Lectures or addresses
• Musical compositions
• Drawings or other artwork; ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture; photographic and other audiovisual cinematographic works
• 3D works relative to geography, topography, etc.

 

Computer programs

 

Derivative works such as translations, adaptations, collections of literary works, etc. also enjoy copyright, but do not confer any copyright over the original materials. Subjects which do not include copyright include laws, ideas, systems, discoveries, pure data, news, or any official texts.

 

Economic and moral rights

 

There are two types of rights conferred when an author creates a work. First, there is copyright, or economic rights—the ability of the author to prevent others from using his work for material gain. Second, there are moral rights, the ability of the author to prevent anyone, including those to whom he has licensed a work, from skewing, misrepresenting, or misattributing a work in a way injurious to the author. The Philippines recognizes economic rights over:

 

• Reproduction of a work
• Dramatization, translation, etc. of a work
• Sale and distribution
• Rentals
• Public display and performance, etc.

 

Furthermore, the Philippines recognizes moral rights over:

 

• Attribution of a work, including the right to be attributed as the author and the right to not be attributed as the author of a work he did not create
• Alteration of a work or withholding of a work from the public
• Distortion or mutilation of the work which would be harmful to the author’s reputation or honor
• Copyrights last until fifty years after an author’s death. Works of applied art and broadcasts have copyrights of 25 and 20 years, respectively.

 

Enforcing your Intellectual Property Rights

 

The Philippines provides for Fair Use of copyrights, including limited use of a copyright for reporting, teaching, comment, criticism, etc. as long as it is for a non-profit or educational purpose and as long as it does not impact the potential market value of the copyrighted work. Within three weeks of the first public dissemination of a work, two complete copies of the work should be sent and the relevant fees should be paid to the National Library and the Supreme Court Library for cataloguing (see here for more info).

 

Some of the means of preventing and punishing infringement of copyrights include:

 

• Injunctions ceasing infringement and destruction of all devices used for making infringing copies
• Damages, including legal costs and other expenses, which occurred due to the infringement or moral and exemplary damages
• Imprisonment for up to 3 years and fines of up to 150,000 Philippine Pesos for first offenses or 9 years and 1.5 million Philippine Pesos for third and subsequent offenses

 

To help uphold copyright, a notarized affidavit may be made on behalf of the owner of the copyright stating that at the time of the offense the copyright existed and that the copyright owner is, in fact, the owner. Registering copyrights with international organizations can also serve as proof of ownership and can extend protection to a work even if it was not published in the Philippines[2]. In any case, no damages can be recovered for acts more than 4 years old.