American manufacturers and intellectual property (IP) owners have bewailed the proliferation of fake goods for sale not only in physical markets such as Baclaran, Binondo, Divisoria and Greenhills, but also in online marketplaces like Carousell, Lazada and Shopee in the Philippines.
In separate position papers submitted to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) this month, US industry associations pointed to the same-old Philippine markets that are deemed "notorious" for supposedly allowing copyright and trademark infringers to flourish.
These comments were solicited by the USTR for its 2024 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy or its so-called Notorious Markets List, which began in mid-August.
In their rebuttals also submitted to the USTR, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) as well as the parent-firms of Lazada and Shopee claimed they are addressing concerns about physical and online copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting, respectively.
"The Philippines recognizes the importance of providing an adequate and effective enforcement mechanism to protect and enforce IP rights in the country to foster economic development... To this end, the men and women of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), are continuously and relentlessly working together to enforce IP rights in order to purge or lessen the obtainability or accessibility of counterfeit and pirated goods, both in the physical and online markets. This highlights the importance given by the government—as a matter of policy—to IP and IP protection and enforcement," IPOPHL Director-General Rowel S. Barba said in a Oct. 16 submission to Assistant US Trade Representative for innovation and intellectual property Daniel Lee.
In an Oct. 2 letter to the USTR, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, which controls the Lazada Group in Southeast Asia, cited its participation in the recent IPOPHL-organized Philippine Trademark Conference 2024 in Manila among its IP-protection actions.
Also, Chris Feng, president of Singapore-based Shopee Pte. Ltd., cited in an Oct. 2 letter to the USTR its initiatives with IPOPHL under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly fight counterfeits.
However, US manufacturing lobby groups maintained that on the ground, fakes abound in Philippine markets.
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) complained that Shopee allows third-party sellers to sell counterfeit and pirated copies of academic textbooks as well as English-language teaching materials on its platform.
The Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) said the online selling platforms of Carousell, Lazada and Shopee in the Philippines have "very large volumes of obvious counterfeits."
TRACIT also listed 168 Mall and 999 Mall in Binondo as well as Divisoria in Manila, alongside Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City as piracy hotspots.
According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), "out of 498 platforms identified for counterfeit activity, Shopee (Indonesia) and Shopee (Philippines) ranked among the top five online marketplaces for counterfeit reporting and removal."
Besides Lazada and Shopee, AAFA members likewise flagged digital marketplaces on Meta's Facebook as well as ByteDance's TikTok as having vendors selling fake products.
The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA), meanwhile, said Baclaran in Pasay City has been "notorious for low-price counterfeits" while in Greenhills, "the volume of counterfeits at this market has been increasing due to a huge social media presence that leads shoppers to the physical stores."
In Baclaran, "raid actions from both the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Intellectual Property Rights Division are no longer effective in this area as there are simply too many infringers," FDRA said.
FDRA nonetheless lauded IPOPHL for "continuing to work with global and local brands to remove counterfeit sellers" in Greenhills, whose mall management is "very cooperative with enforcement agencies, and it aims to promote the sales of genuine products."
Even the French association Union des Fabricants (UNIFAB) red-flagged Greenhills as well as 168 Mall and 999 Mall plus Lazada.
"The average takedown time ranges from three to four days, but this is insufficient given the large volume of counterfeit products, particularly in markets like the Philippines. Lazada does not have a clear process for removing repeat infringers, and sellers often evade detection by altering product names. The platform does not proactively address listings involving trademark and logo abuse, and copyright enforcement is challenging due to the requirement for a live link to specific items, which is difficult to maintain given the platform's frequent changes," UNIFAB lamented.
In Greenhills, UNIFAB said volumes of counterfeit accessories, handbags and perfumes are "high at the main area, mainly at the secret storeroom."
The same was observed by UNIFAB at 168 and 999 malls, where many fake clothing and leather goods mostly coming from Bangladesh had even been tested to be toxic, hence are "very problematic for global security and healthcare."