Philippines conglomerate Viva Holdings and its 37 subsidiaries have signed the E-Commerce Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen protection of its content and retail products across digital platforms, making it the first entertainment-driven company to fight piracy and counterfeiting online through the agreement.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), which facilitates the MoU, sees Viva’s entry into the MoU as a major step forward in encouraging more creatives to protect their intellectual property (IP) rights, thus fueling business growth and unlocking more opportunities for the creative sector.

“The more stakeholders we encourage to join the E-Commerce MoU, the more cooperation we have, giving IP rights holder signatories like Viva a more efficient mechanism to protect their content from pirated uploads and streaming, as well as inspire other content creators to take charge of their IP assets,” stated Director General da Costa-Villaluz.

Established in 2021, the MoU establishes a voluntary code of practice among e-commerce stakeholders, making it easier to identify and take down infringing goods and content. It is touted as a model of cooperative enforcement, especially valuable in a digital economy where pirated materials can spread in seconds.

Vicente ‘Vic’ del Rosario Jr, Chairman and CEO of Viva Communications, said the move will help protect the company’s content assets against piracy which he estimates is threatening 80 per cent of its potential revenue.

“If not for piracy, we could have a bigger budget to create more content for our audience to enjoy, but we’re getting less than what we hope to get. If not for piracy, we could be a formidable creative economy on par with South Korea,” he added.

While he recognised how the streaming business pushed their profits to new record highs, he lamented how the digital age made piracy faster and more sophisticated, requiring innovative strategies swiftly to take down pirated streaming links and hard drives containing massive volumes of Viva content being sold online.

Viva expressed appreciation for IPOPHL’s leadership in developing and managing the E-Commerce MoU, saying closer cooperation with online platforms will be critical to results-driven enforcement and protecting the future of its artists, content creators and managers who drive the growth of the creative economy.

“If you see the effort that goes into creating films and shows, it’s disheartening to then find that same content being made available on e-commerce platforms. It invalidates the talent and hard work of Filipino creatives. It can really be discouraging,” del Rosario admitted.

“We thank IPOPHL for the E-Commerce MoU, l and we look forward to working more closely with digital platforms and less piracy and counterfeiting of our content and products,” the company said.

Viva specialises in content creation, production, marketing and distribution across various media formats including film, music, TV shows and concerts. It also developed one of the first Filipino subscription streaming apps, VMX (Vivamax) and Viva One, which now boasts over 14 million subscribers worldwide.

With Viva’s agreement to the MoU, signatories now total 105, comprising companies, industry groups, business chambers and platforms.

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Tags: anti piracy, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, IPOPHL, Viva Holdings