IPOPHL: “Using CTTO does not excuse yung kumopya o gumamit noon.”
IPOPHL — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines warned that social media users who are reposting other people’s artworks or photos without permission from the owner are violating intellectual property laws.
On Monday, the country’s intellectual property regulator said that social media users should refrain from reposting other people’s content and citing “CTTO” (“credits to the owner”) or other similar phrases.
The regulator also encouraged creators to protect their innovative and original works through copyrights and to file patents for their inventions as well.
“Using CTTO does not excuse yung kumopya o gumamit noon. Dapat kukunin niya yung permiso bago niya ilalathala o gagamitin yung orihinal na content,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba said. “Patuloy po nating ingatan at protektahan ang ating intellectual property.”
Patents, according to the regulator, are an “exclusive right” that allows patent owners to exclude others from using, making, or selling the product of one’s invention during the life of the patent.
In addition, patent owners may give permission or license to other parties to use their inventions on mutually agreed terms and may also sell their invention rights to other people.
ABS-CBN News reported that IPOPHL currently receives more trademark applications than patents.
Based on a report, the reasons behind the low patent applications are still being studied but the regulator has recently discovered that some inventors sell their discoveries before they finish their patent applications.
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While it’s unclear if “lack of knowledge and patience” played a role in their decisions, IPOPHL Deputy Director General Teodoro Pascua encouraged inventors to pursue getting patents for their work first so that they can license it to investors instead of selling it outright.
The regulator hopes to push amendments to the Intellectual Property Code in the next Congress and also plans to continue reaching out to “bring IP to the grassroots”.
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