FROM LEFT: Blancaflor, Anthony Bengzon and Deedee Siytangco.
During the Bulong Pulungan forum held at Hotel Sofitel recently, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines urged Filipinos to adhere to copyright laws by putting an end to the practice of illegally photocopying textbooks.
The IPO bureau administers the policies declared in Republic Act No. 8293, known as the Intellectual Property (IP) Code of the Philippines. It is implementing a nationwide education campaign that aims to intensify public awareness of copyright laws.
“Copyright covers what is created by the mind—it can be literary or scientific works, books, films, music, broadcast, sculpture and other similar works,” said director general Ricardo Blancaflor. Violations of the IP code are committed by photocopy centers and students.
Blancaflor explained, “If we allow photocopying of books, students would lose respect for authors. For 54 percent of Filipinos, their idea of copyright infringement is mostly about DVD and CD piracy.”
For first-time offenders, copyright infringement is punishable by imprisonment of one year to three years, with fines ranging from P50,000 to P150,000.
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Join our Singapore Photo Walk on Sept. 26-29, which will be highlighted by a visit to the Annie Leibovitz photo exhibit at the ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay Sands, or take part in the GenSan Tuna Festival at the Socsargen Photo Safari on Sept. 5-8. E-mail luzamandolina@yahoo.com, or call 0915-5430492. Check out Cebu-based artist Celso Pepito’s paintings in the “Individual Positivism” art exhibit at the LRI Design Plaza, 210 Nicanor Garcia st., Bel-Air II, Makati City.