Online piracy cause of revenue loss - IPOPHL
Online piracy cause of revenue loss – IPOPHL
MANILA, Philippines: The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said on Tuesday that the country is losing big revenues due to online piracy and it would cost the government more if the problem remains unaddressed.
During the Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship hearing on bills amending the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba cited the study conducted by Media Partners Asia on the country’s losses due to video piracy.
“In 2022, there were 20 million Filipinos who downloaded from illegal sites, and the loss was $781 million, and if nothing is done, by 2027, the illegal users will increase to 31 million, and the leakage will be $1 billion, the taxes are not yet included,” Barba said when asked by Senator Mark Villar, chairman of the committee, on the effects of piracy in creative industries.
Globe Vice President for Legal Policy Ariel Tubayan said online piracy also deprives the government of the necessary revenues “from the access that has foregone from consumption of pirated content.”
According to the Asia Video Industry Association, the Philippines has a 70 percent incidence of piracy and is second among the countries with piracy cases.
Meanwhile, GMA Legal Counsel Allan Rafael raised the alarm over the pay-per-view sites that have pirated content of their television shows and asked viewers to provide credit card details, which has been causing problems.
“Some are offering pay-per-view, similar to what Netflix is doing. I think this is where malware is rampant because we have to pay using credit cards,” Rafael said.
He added that site blocking would have a “huge impact” on the adverse effects of digital piracy in the creative industry.
Villar said that the passage of Senate Bills 2150 and 2385 would solve online piracy issues. SB 2150 seeks to restrict access to online sites that facilitate copyright infringement.
“If we don’t pass this law, the stakeholders in our creative industry will suffer. They are losing so much. Their income is decreasing, the industry is being destroyed, and, of course, we don’t know where the revenues are going. They might just be going abroad, so we are also losing income,” the senator said in Filipino.