The government's intensified anti-piracy efforts last year yielded a record-high P40.9 billion in confiscated fake products.
In a statement on Thursday, Feb. 6, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said the combined seizures of enforcement agencies belonging to the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) in 2024 nearly doubled 2023's P26.9-billion haul.
Among NCIPR agencies, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized the largest value of fakes worth P34.7 billion last year.
In 2024, "among the biggest operations of the BOC included its July operations in Binondo which hauled P11-billion worth of counterfeit luxury goods, and its November raid in a Divisoria mall where the agency confiscated P7-billion worth," IPOPHL noted.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confiscated P3.4 billion in fake goods last year; the Philippine National Police (PNP), P2.8 billion; and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), P30.2-million worth of counterfeit drugs and health-related items.
Under the IP Code, the unauthorized imitation, reproduction or use of registered trademarks or their key features in advertising and commerce can lead to liability for infringement if usage likely caused confusion, deception or error.
IPOPHL Director General Brigitte M. da Costa-Villaluz thanked the NCIPR's member-agencies for their "proactive work and strategic raid operations to keep counterfeits from reaching markets and households."
"Counterfeit products harm the economy as they undermine legitimate businesses and market trust, while also exposing consumers to unsafe products that went under the radar of regulatory standard checks," the IPOPHL chief pointed out.
"The NCIPR will continue to safeguard our borders from being transit points, our warehouses from being hiding dens and our markets from being thriving hubs for counterfeiting," IPOPHL Deputy Director General for policy, legal affairs and external relations Nathaniel S. Arevalo, for his part, said.
IPOPHL-Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Office supervising director Christine V. Pangilinan-Canlapan warned the consuming public that purchasing counterfeit goods bring a "high cost of risks to what seem like bargain prices."