About PAPT Crackdown On Software Piracy

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We received an SMS message from a news reporter in Cebu City asking the stand of I-Cafe Pilipinas on the warning issued by the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Task Force (PAPT) regarding crackdown on software piracy and the use of IP (Intellectual Property) Seal and here is our statement on the matter:

I-Cafe Pilipinas does not oppose the campaign of PAPT on business establishments including Internet cafés using unlicensed software. We have already stated many times in the past that as i-cafe owners we should operate our businesses on the right side of the law. It is the mandate of the PAPT to conduct inspection to verify compliance to the Republic Act No.  8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

However, I-Café Pilipinas objects to the imposition on the use of the IP seal as basis for doing such inspection by PAPT. The IP Seal belongs to IP Coalition, a private organization and it usurps the regulatory functions of the Intellectual Property Office. We believe that this is an unfair imposition of a regulation that is not part of any national law nor local ordinance but merely a product of an agreement between a government agency and a private organization. We believe the imposition of such a regulation would be an added red tape for the IT business in the country and is open to abuse. If the practice is continued, what would prevent them from collecting fees from businesses for the use of the IP Seal.