PHILIPPINES, OCTOBER 22, 2010 – Intellectual Property (IP) was the key issue at the Advertising Suppliers Association of the Philippines (ASAP) 3rd Quarterly Membership Meeting yesterday at the Top Shelf of Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street.
Dubbed “Idea mo, Protektado!” the Intellectual Property Rights interactive program made good use of the Audience Response System (ARS) to instantly find out how much ASAP members knew about IP and to clarify the grey areas of this issue, which is of concern to a creative industry such as advertising.
Guest speakers Precious Leaño, president of the Filipino Visual Arts and Design Rights Organization (FILVADRO), and Atty. Mark Dy of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Philippines dispelled IP myths, gave an overview of copyright concepts and breezed through the salient points of Republic Act 8293, which contains the law on copyright. Other points taken up were the nature of protection, copyright coverage and the rights of copyright owners. Copies of RA 8293 were distributed to attendees.
Like other literary, artistic, scholarly and scientific works, much of advertising falls under the scope of copyright. Leaño is positive that the self-regulation of the advertising industry will facilitate the creation of implementing rules and regulations, which is currently lacking in the law. She also noted that many disputes can be avoided with clear contracts between supplier, agency and client.
One of the basic misconceptions about IP is that ideas or concepts are subject to copyright. An idea has to be expressed as output–whether it be audio, visual or audio-visual, whether it is an original work or a derivative one—before it is considered as having copyright.
ASAP has voiced its recognition and respect for the IP Rights or creators. The association has proposed the creation of the Intellectual Property Committee to the AdBoard as part of the AdBoard’s reengineering, in order to jumpstart the formulation of industry-wide policy. The creation of the IP committee and other proposed committees, as well as the change of name from AdBoard to Marketing Communication Authority of the Philippines, are expected to be ratified at the next AdBoard General Membership Meeting in November.
