In this digital age, the Philippines and the entire Asia-Pacific should protect intellectual property more to encourage businesses to develop and bring new products to customers, according to Globe Telecom Inc.

“Protection of intellectual property is key in encouraging innovators to create and push their ideas to fruition," stressed Globe Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio.

The Globe Group develops and rolls out technological products and creative content through its core telco business and portfolio companies, from pioneering digital services to films and other original content.

Hence, protecting intellectual property is "crucial for Globe, as we continue to tread a path of innovation to deliver pioneering digital products that enable and empower Filipinos,” he added.

“We are in full support of regional efforts to boost intellectual property protection."

“If we are able to protect intellectual property, innovators and content creators will no longer feel that their work is taken for granted," Bonifacio maintained.

"This kind of environment will give them more confidence and incentive to deliver original, high-quality content to the public.”

Globe issued the statement Thursday, April 28, as the country celebrates National Intellectual Property Month.

The telco has been at the forefront of promoting intellectual property protection via its anti-piracy efforts.

It has ramped up its drive against piracy through partnerships and continues advocacy through the #PlayItRight campaign to protect content creators and deter consumption of copied material.

The campaign is critical as the Philippines, along with Vietnam and Malaysia, posted the highest content piracy rates in Asia, according to the YouGov 2022 Piracy Landscape Survey commissioned by AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP).

The survey revealed that 61 percent of Philippine respondents admitted to consuming pirated content, mainly through social media and messaging platforms.

These include clips of films shared on Facebook and TikTok, illegal movie downloads shared via Telegram, and pirated content sold at the Facebook marketplace.

Globe has also been supporting efforts to modernize the country’s intellectual property law, with several bills pending in Congress that aim to boost protection of intellectual property rights.

Among the amendments sought is granting greater power to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to take down or block online sites violating copyright laws and penalize violators with steeper fines.

In addition, Globe has invested $2.7 million to activate a content-filtering system that targets pirated content as well as online child pornography.