by: Director General Rowel Barba, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines

IP is intrinsically tied to culture and the arts. After all, the World Intellectual Property Organization (or WIPO) defines IP as the “creations of the mind,” referring to inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images that can be used in commerce.

As the agency mandated to protect the nation’s IP rights under Republic Act (RA) 8293, or the IP Code of the Philippines, IPOPHL’s efforts to mainstream IP is also helping mainstream our arts and culture.

This is also in line with IPOPHL’s evolution from a mere regulator of IP to a more developmental role as an enabler of small businesses, industries, the youth, the academe, and, of course, our creative community

IP in our culture and the arts is also contributing towards our nation’s social transformation and governance.

Ensuring that our people can maximize the use of their IP rights will promote greater innovation and creativity—from relevant, innovative technological solutions that address modern-day challenges to creative artistic works that will push our society forward.

As such, IP can contribute in fostering an enabling environment for our nation’s social and economic transformation to help us realize our vision of a “matatag, maginhawa, at panatag na buhay para sa lahat” as declared by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

Innovation is already an integral component in our Philippine Development Plan (or PDP) 2023-2028 and our National Innovation Agenda Strategy Document (or NIASD) 2023-2032, with both helping us to aim for an IP-enabled dynamic innovation environment.

Meanwhile, we remain fully committed to creating a creative environment through IP protection to support our Creative Industries, especially with the passage of RA 11904 or the Philippine Creative Industries Development (or PCID) Act, in 2022.

Creative economy to GDP

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), our nation’s creative economy¹ amounted to Php 1.60 trillion and contributed 7.3% to the country's gross domestic product (or GDP) in 2022. What’s more, the industry currently employs more than seven million Filipinos.

Thus, by harnessing Filipino creativity as a key driver of economic growth, we can develop a robust and all-inclusive creative ecosystem in the Philippines while providing a better life for many of our people.

To this end, IPOPHL is working with the NCCA in the 19-member PCID Council to raise IP awareness across the creative economy and capacitating sectors to protect their IP, especially their copyright and related rights.

For underserved artists

With this in mind, IPOPHL is constantly finding ways to encourage our people to nurture and develop their creative prowess while pushing them to register their creative works so that they can protect their copyrights.

For example, our Bureau of Copyright and Related Rights (BCRR) has a flagship program, Copyright Plus, that is aimed at educating creators on the economic and cultural benefits of protecting their copyright through registration.

Focusing on underrepresented sectors, this program supports minority groups or persons in society to unlock their creative prowess while raising their appreciation of copyright’s role in their community, as well as in their future success.

Last year, we had four projects: the production of a short documentary on the making of an indie film to educate budding filmmakers; a tabletop card game to teach players about the value of IP; a workshop to teach aspiring writers and artists on creating comics or mangas; and the last on a workshop on storytelling and creating a graphic novel that is a manual on storytelling.

There is also the Copyright Bulletin released quarterly by the BCRR that discusses issues and emerging trends in the local and international creative economy. The bulletin provides recommendations as well on best practices in copyright management and market success.

Raising copyright awareness

The BCRR is also conducting webinars and information awareness programs targeting specific sectors of the Creative Industries. Additionally, these programs are aimed at the regional level to widen our engagement among our people and ensure greater inclusivity and collaboration.

For example, the Copyright Caravan is a BCRR initiative focusing on knowledge-sharing copyright matters through seminars, and the promotion of copyright registration, projects and activities. It also seeks to establish linkages and build rapport with the copyright-based industries, especially in the provinces.

For this year, BCRR visited General Santos City last October and Tacloban last November as part of this initiative.

IPOPHL had also partnered with the National Book Development Board (or NBDB) this year to raise copyright awareness during their Philippine Book Festival.

Our BCRR team joined the NBDB’s first Book Festival at the World Trade Center in Manila last June, as well as their Book Festival in Davao City last August. At both events, our copyright experts conducted seminars as well as fielded questions at the IPOPHL booth about copyright and how to register works with us.

IPOPHL also took part in the Big Bad Wolf (BBW) Sale last June when they came back to the Philippines after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. During this event, the BCRR team ran copyright seminars and addressed IP questions and concerns at the IPOPHL booth during the 11-day event.

Aside from our own Copyright Caravan, we continue to partner with and participate in events organized by local government units (LGUs), other government agencies, and the private sector. This ensures we are able to take advantage of and maximize opportunities to bring about a greater awareness of copyright, especially among our people in the countryside.

In particular, our BCRR worked with SIKAP (or the Creative Content Creators Association of the Philippines, Inc.) for their flagship event, AYO2023, in Cebu, as well as the AYO Roadshow in Iligan.

We also worked with the NCCA for their various events in Bacolod, as well as the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on their 1st Philippine Digital Nomad Summit in Siargao.

Further, IPOPHL partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for their creative events and creativity summits in Manila, Iligan and Cagayan De Oro. Lastly, IPOPHL also participated in the Philippine Blockchain Week some three months back.

(Part 2 in next issue).

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of IPAP.