#IPOPHL

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the British Embassy in Manila made the initiative possible in an effort to build a stronger industry-wide coordination mechanism against increasing online counterfeiting and piracy. According to the IPOPHL it received 121 reports and complaints in 2020, the highest since the establishment of the IP Rights Enforcement Office in 2013. [caption id="attachment_265836" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Photo credits: IPOPHL[/caption] "Before, we used to experience delays especially on complaints on counterfeits and piracy. [caption id="attachment_265835" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Photo credits: IPOPHL[/caption] According to Barba, the agreement provides a self-policing measure that will help in cleaning up the marketplace from bogus products online. Furthermore, Barba mentioned that with the massive shift to e-commerce last year due to the pandemic, IPOPHL received the highest number of reports and complaints on intellectual property rights violations online. UPDATE  (March 8, 2021): A previous version of this story mentioned that the IPOPHL signed the MOU with Lazada, Shopee, and other business entities. The IPOPHL was not part of the signatories and, along with the British Embassy in Manila, only helped facilitate the MOU. PayMaya now added the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the City of Taguig, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), and the Optical Media Board (OMB) to its government partners for cashless transactions. Read more in our articles including "Lazada, Shopee, other businesses sign MOU against fake goods" and "PayMaya now supports more government agencies for cashless transactions".