This historic district in Manila has been named by the Washington-based Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) among the world’s 21 most “notorious markets” for pirated and counterfeit items.

It is now in the company of the Bahia in Guayaquil, Ecuador; China Small Commodities market in Yiwu, Luouwu market in Shenzhen, Yangpu Yigao Digital Square in Shanghai, and Hailong PC Mall and Silk Market in Beijing, all in China; Ciudad del Este in Paraguay; Harco Glodok in Jakarta, Indonesia; La Salada in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Ladies Market in Mongkok, Hong Kong; Petrivka in Kiev, Ukraine; Savelovskiy in Moscow, Russia; Panthip Plaza, Klong Thom, Saphan Lek and Baan Mor shopping areas, all in Thailand; San Andresitos, Colombia; Tepito in Mexico City; Nehru Place in New Delhi, India; and the Urdu bazaars in Karachi and Lahore, Pakistan.

Just 1 in PH

The USTR is the agency responsible for developing and coordinating US international trade, commodities and direct investment policies.

In a report posted on the website of the US Embassy in Manila, the USTR said Quiapo was “one example of several locations and neighborhoods [in the Philippines], especially in Metro Manila, known to deal in counterfeit and pirated goods such as clothing, shoes, watches and handbags.”

Last year, the USTR mentioned Quiapo and 168 Mall in Binondo, also in Manila—along with Greenhills and Makati Cinema Square in the cities of San Juan and Makati, respectively— in its Special 301 Report on similar markets.

The report partly read: “Street stalls in these areas are a haven for counterfeit clothing, shoes, watches and handbags.

“Due to the unwillingness of local investigation agencies and government authorities to confront stall owners, trademark owners have had a difficult time obtaining meaningful enforcement action.

“Also, although a 2006 Executive Order established landlord liability, no landlords reportedly have yet been prosecuted for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations.”

US concern

In its 2010 Special 301 Report, the USTR pointed out that “ineffective enforcement of IPR [in the Philippines] continues to be a concern” of the US government.

“Although some agencies continue making progress to increase raid and seizure activity, these efforts have been proven insufficient to address widespread piracy and counterfeiting in the country,” the agency noted.

The USTR urged the Philippine government “to address inefficiencies in the judicial system and to establish specialized IPR courts so that rights holders will have a reliable avenue for recourse and prosecutions move forward effectively and without delay.”

The government was likewise urged to “complete its work on legislative reforms needed to strengthen IPR protection” and to “address its IPR protection and enforcement challenges.”

But the Philippines is not alone in this respect. The USTR also blamed the following for IPR violations:

• Online services, like Baidu in China, which are “engaged in ‘deep linking’ to allegedly infringing materials often stored on third-party hosting sites.”

• Pay per download sites, like the Allofmp3 Clones in Russia, which exemplify the problem of online sales of pirated music on a pay per download basis.

• Live sports telecast piracy, like TV Ants, which reportedly operates from China.

• Smartphone software, like 91.com, which makes software applications to the public without compensating rights holders.

On 2010 watch list

Last year, the Philippines was one of 29 on the USTR watch list of countries with “widespread availability of pirated and counterfeit goods.”

The other countries in the list included Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Peru, Mexico, Egypt and Kuwait.

On the other hand, those on the USTR priority watch list were China, Russia, Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand and Venezuela.

Jerry Esplanada, Inquirer.net