The youngest group segment among five age groups emerged as the most susceptible patronizing pirated digital contents, a joint survey of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) revealed.
IPOPHL Director-General Rowel S. Barba said at the Grand IP Forum held April 22, 2022 with the theme “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future” warned that the youth’s “vulnerability to corruptible practices.”
In the IPOPHL-WIPO joint survey in 2021, it was found that out of five age groups, it was the youngest that supported pirated digital content the most even as this group had the smallest sample size.
Out of 1,000 respondents, 28 percent of those who downloaded free movies, 14 percent of those who read free ebooks and 35 percent of those who downloaded free music came from the youngest group segment, with ages 18 to 19.
According to the survey, some young respondents cited the ease in accessing free content compared to buying in official stores, and that their peers do it anyway.
“Given these findings, the work to create an IP-conscious and respectful generation must be at the top of our country's agenda. We need to take active measures to help them understand the importance of IP as young as they are,” Barba said.
The IPOPHL chief noted that its work to develop and implement a rolling site-blocking regime soon will help disrupt accessibility to piracy sites and help keep the youth safer.
Helping the youth drive IP creation IPOPHL also commits to make a greater impact under its Young IP Advocates (YIPA) Program which aims to cultivate respect for IP rights among the youth while also helping them create and protect their own high-value IP assets.
Now with 14 clubs established across 47 YIPA-member schools, IPOPHL is aiming to create an IP policy framework to help IP clubs further align with IPOPHL’s national goal.
“IPOPHL will soon be creating IP policy guidelines for our growing network of IP clubs to ensure that their awareness campaign is effective and is sustained in the long term,” Barba said.
“In the near future, we hope these IP policy guidelines will also carry standards that will increase IP filings among YIPA members and create more IP rights holders as young as high school students,” the IPOPHL chief added.
The IPOPHL chief went on to encourage the youth to combine IP with their key advantages and harness these for more meaningful pursuits. “With IP, your ingenuity and tech-savvy skills at your fingertips, IPOPHL sees a brighter future for the Philippines as you, our young changemakers, lead the way in innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship,” Barba told the young audience at the forum.
“With the youth as the biggest users of the internet and adopters of technology, we believe they are best positioned to take up the challenge of leading the Philippines into a bright digital future,” he said.