Our leading E-Commerce platforms Lazada and Shopee sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with various global and local brand owners, deciding to obey a code of practice on the sale of pirated goods. They conducted this signing of MoU in an online event coordinated in partnership with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).
Under the MoU, Lazada and Shopee consented to restrict the offer of fake merchandise online “in a timely and efficient manner”.
IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said that “This MoU establishes a code of practice among online marketplaces, as well as an efficient notice and takedown procedure,”. She also added that it is “to intensify our fight against the sale of counterfeit and pirated goods over the internet,”.
Brands and industry groups such as Unilever Philippines, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Philippines, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc., Castrol Ltd. the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, the Consumer Healthcare Philippines, Inc., and the Philippine Retailers Association also signed the MoU.
By that, these brand owners will have the right to a “notice and takedown” operation when an infringement of their products is found out. Also, both brand owners and platforms additionally conceded to preventive measures, including the active supervising of online advertisements.
However, there is the proposed Internet Transactions Act under Senate Bill 1591, which allows the Trade Department to take down websites or platforms that authorize vendors to sell fake products.
Source: ABS-CBN, BusinessWorld
