The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines on Wednesday revealed that the 10 movies that made it to the list of Metro Manila Film Festival 2023 are now being pirated and streamed online.

“Our IP Rights Enforcement Office has been receiving reports that pirated copies of these movies are made available online already. Reports of piracy-related incidents during the MMFF are distressing and undermine the hard work and creativity of filmmakers. It is disheartening to witness these illegal activities that not only violate intellectual property rights but also harm the entire film industry,” said IPOPHL Deputy Director General Ann Claire Cabochan.

Records showed that a new record of gross receipts of P1.07 billion was garnered at the MMFF 2023 as of 9 January 2023.

A bill enhancing the powers and functions of the IPOPHL was approved by the House of Representatives on a second reading last May 2023.

Its author, Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda stressed that if enacted into law, additional insertions of words would be placed on the current RA No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, including regulations of content posted online.

Despite this, Cabochan said these hard-earned revenues by artists would have fetched heftier amounts were it not for the pirated activities that proliferated on social media at the height of the MMFF.

With this, Cabochan expressed hopes that the Supplemental Rules on Voluntary Administrative Site-Blocking, a thrust under Director General Rowel Barba’s leadership that will take effect on 24 January 2024, would alleviate the problem of digital piracy.

Also, the IPOPHL official emphasized the role of consumers in giving back to the hard work and creativity of creators by consuming their works legally.

Hence, IPOPHL’s “Stop Piracy” campaign and a giant network’s campaign “Stream Responsibly, Fight Piracy“ slogan together form a call to action and an appeal to the values of Filipinos.

“These messages represent a commitment — to uphold the rights of creators, to protect and respect intellectual property, and to promote a culture of responsible streaming,” Cabochan added.

In a press conference last December 2023, IPOPHL DG said that from January to October of the said year, there was a record-breaking IP filing of 41,815, an increase of nearly two percent from 41,022 for the same period last year.

On the other hand, trademark filings accounted for the bulk of the filings at 35,538, an increase of 0.41 percent from the 35,393 filings in 2022.