MANILA - The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) recently launched TutoK Kasaysayang at its Alab Art Space and Innovation Area. TutoK is a visual artists’ collective that uses the visual medium as a channel for various advocacies.

Kasaysayang, the theme of the exhibition, is a two-part group exhibition focusing on Philippine history where there will be a forum on art, history and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on the closing day of the exhibition, January 18, 2008.

“The spaces, particularly Alab, are expressions of our commitment in support of the copyright and other creative industries,” Director General of IP Philippines Adrian S. Cristobal said.

“Moreover, this sector is included in the Philippine Intellectual Property Policy Strategy, which we have presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the National Innovation Summit,” he added.

Copyright protects original expressions of literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic creations. Copyright extends to software programs, compilation of databases, and derivative works. These also include dramatizations, translation, adaptation, abridgement, arrangements, and other alteration of the work.

Aside from copyright and other creative industries, the policy strategy lists the following as the country’s Intellectual Property (IP) assets and approaches to realize the strategy’s identified objectives: public health; patent reform; universities and research and development institutions (RDI); biodiversity and genetic resources; indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSP), folklore and geographical indications; small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and; institutional capacity-building and IP enforcement.

A 2005 survey of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) reveals that copyright-based industries (CBI) account for three to six percent of overall economies. In the Philippines, the CBI employs an estimated 317,000 workers, representing 11.1 percent of total employment in large establishments.

“The total contribution of CBI to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has been estimated at 4.82 percent,” Cristobal added.

“Given the sector’s contribution to the economy, we must protect the sector from intellectual property rights violations, lack of recognition and reward systems, delays in the issuance of certificates of registration, and the lack of provisions for the protection of copyright owners,” he continued.

Strategic actions identified in the Philippine IP Policy Strategy for copyright and other creative industries are as follows:

- Formulate and implement policies to govern databases, author’s rights, reproduction rights and fair use.

- Strengthen support services at IP Philippines for copyright sector.

- Institutionalize coordination among IP Philippines, National Book Development Board (NBDB), National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and other relevant agencies to protect and promote the sector.

- Formulate and implement policies for the recognition and accreditation of copyright collection management organizations.

- Study and analyze the impact and benefits of the country’s accession to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Internet Treaties.