Intellectual Property Code with the 2020 Revised Rules of Procedure for Intellectual Property Rights Cases

Section 216

A person infringes a right protected under this Act when one: (a) Directly commits an infringement; (b) Benefits from the infringing activity of another person who commits an infringement if the person benefiting has been given notice of the infringing activity and has the right and ability to control the activities of the other person; (c) With knowledge of infringing activity, induces, causes or materially contributes to the infringing conduct of another. (as amended by RA No 10372) 216.1 Remedies for Infringement. — Any person infringing a right protected under this law shall be liable: (a) To an injunction restraining such infringement. The court may also order the defendant to desist from an infringement, among others, to prevent the entry into the channels of commerce of imported goods that involve an infringement, immediately after customs clearance of such goods. (b) To pay to the copyright proprietor or his assigns or heirs such actual damages, including legal costs and other expenses, as he may have incurred due to the infringement as well as the profits the infringer may have made due to such infringement, and in proving profits the plaintiff shall be required to prove sales only and the defendant shall be required to prove every element of cost which he claims, or, in lieu of actual damages and profits, such damages which to the court shall appear to be just and shall not be regarded as penalty: Provided, That the amount of damages to be awarded shall be doubled against any person who: (i) Circumvents effective technological measures; or (ii) Having reasonable grounds to know that it will induce, enable, facilitate or conceal the infringement, remove or alter any electronic rights management information from a copy of a work, sound recording, or fixation of a performance, or distribute, import for distribution, broadcast, or communicate to the public works or copies of works without authority, knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority. (as amended by RA No 10372) (c) Deliver under oath, for impounding during the pendency of the action, upon such terms and conditions as the court may prescribe, sales invoices and other documents evidencing sales, all articles and their packaging alleged to infringe a copyright and implements for making them. (d) Deliver under oath for destruction without any compensation all infringing copies or devices, as well as all plates, molds, or other means for making such infringing copies as the court may order. (e) Such other terms and conditions, including the payment of moral and exemplary damages, which the court may deem proper, wise and equitable and the destruction of infringing copies of the work even in the event of acquittal in a criminal case. The copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in an action in a sum equivalent to the filing fee of the infringement action but not less than Fifty thousand pesos (Php50.000.00). In awarding statutory damages, the court may consider the following factors: (1) The nature and purpose of the infringing act; (2) The flagrancy of the infringement; (3) Whether the defendant acted in bad faith; (4) The need for deterrence; (5) Any loss that the plaintiff has suffered or is likely to suffer by reason of the infringement; and (6) Any benefit shown to have accrued to the defendant by reason of the infringement. In case the infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe that his acts constitute an infringement of copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than Ten thousand pesos (Php10,000.00): Provided, That the amount of damages to be awarded shall be doubled against any person who: (i) Circumvents effective technological measures; or (ii) Having reasonable grounds to know that it will induce, enable, facilitate or conceal the infringement, remove or alter any electronic rights management information from a copy of a work, sound recording, or fixation of a performance, or distribute, import for distribution, broadcast, or communicate to the public works or copies of works without authority, knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority. (as amended by RA No 10372) 216.2. In an infringement action, the court shall also have the power to order the seizure and impounding of any article which may serve as evidence in the court proceedings, in accordance with the rules on search and seizure involving violations of intellectual property rights issued by the Supreme Court. (Sec. 28, P.D. No. 49a) The foregoing shall not preclude an independent suit for relief by the injured party by way of damages, injunction, accounts or otherwise. (as amended by RA No 10372)

Section 217

217.1. Any person infringing any right secured by provisions of Part IV of this Act or aiding or abetting such infringement shall be guilty of a crime punishable by: (a) Imprisonment of one (1) year to three (3) years plus a fine ranging from Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) to One hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000) for the first offense. (b) Imprisonment of three (3) years and one (1) day to six (6) years plus a fine ranging from One hundred fifty thousand pesos (P150,000) to Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) for the second offense. (c) Imprisonment of six (6) years and one (1) day to nine (9) years plus a fine ranging from Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) to One million five hundred thousand pesos (P1,500,000) for the third and subsequent offenses. (d) In all cases, subsidiary imprisonment in cases of insolvency. 217.2. In determining the number of years of imprisonment and the amount of fine, the court shall consider the value of the infringing materials that the defendant has produced or manufactured and the damage that the copyright owner has suffered by reason of the infringement: Provided, That the respective maximum penalty stated in Section 217.1. (a), (b) and (c) herein for the first, second, third and subsequent offense, shall be imposed when the infringement is committed by: (a) The circumvention of effective technological measures; (b) The removal or alteration of any electronic rights management information from a copy of a work, sound recording, or fixation of a performance, by a person, knowingly and without authority; or (c) The distribution, importation for distribution, broadcast, or communication to the public of works or copies of works, by a person without authority, knowing that electronic rights management information has been removed or altered without authority. (as amended by RA No 10372) 217.3. Any person who at the time when copyright subsists in a work has in his possession an article which he knows, or ought to know, to be an infringing copy of the work for the purpose of: (a) Selling, letting for hire, or by way of trade offering or exposing for sale, or hire, the article; (b) Distributing the article for purpose of trade, or for any other purpose to an extent that will prejudice the rights of the copyright owner in the work; or (c) Trade exhibit of the article in public, shall be guilty of an offense and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment and fine as above mentioned. (Sec. 29, P.D. No. 49a)

Section 218

218.1. In an action under this Chapter, an affidavit made before a notary public by or on behalf of the owner of the copyright in any work or other subject matter and stating that: (a) At the time specified therein, copyright subsisted in the work or other subject matter; (b) He or the person named therein is the owner of the copyright; and (c) The copy of the work or other subject matter annexed thereto is a true copy thereof. The affidavit shall be admitted in evidence in any proceedings under this Chapter and shall be prima facie proof of the matters therein stated until the contrary is proved, and the court before which such affidavit is produced shall assume that the affidavit was made by or on behalf of the owner of the copyright. (as amended by RA No 10372) 218.2. In an action under this Chapter: (a) Copyright shall be presumed to subsist in the work or other subject matter to which the action relates if the defendant does not put in issue the question whether copyright subsists in the work or other subject matter; and (b) Where the subsistence of the copyright is established, the plaintiff shall be presumed to be the owner of the copyright if he claims to be the owner of the copyright and the defendant does not put in issue the question of his ownership. (c) Where the defendant, without good faith, puts in issue the questions of whether copyright subsists in a work or other subject matter to which the action relates, or the ownership of copyright in such work or subject matter, thereby occasioning unnecessary costs or delay in the proceedings, the court may direct that any costs to the defendant in respect of the action shall not be allowed by him and that any costs occasioned by the defendant to other parties shall be paid by him to such other parties. (n)

Section 219

219.1. The natural person whose name is indicated on a work in the usual manner as the author shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be the author of the work. This provision shall be applicable even if the name is a pseudonym, where the pseudonym leaves no doubt as to the identity of the author. 219.2. The person or body corporate whose name appears on an audio-visual work in the usual manner shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be the maker of said work. (n)

Section 220

A statement concerning a work, recorded in an international register in accordance with an international treaty to which the Philippines is or may become a party, shall be construed as true until the contrary is proved except: 220.1. Where the statement cannot be valid under this Act or any other law concerning intellectual property. 220.2. Where the statement is contradicted by another statement recorded in the international register. (n)

Section 220A

Where any article or its packaging or an implement for making it is seized or detained under a valid search and seizure under this Act is, or is reasonably suspected to be, by an authorized enforcement officer, in violation of this Act, the said officer shall, wherever reasonably practicable, notify the owner of the copyright in question or his authorized agent of the seizure or detention, as the case may be. (as amended by RA No 10372)