The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is pushing for tighter enforcement, stronger inter-agency coordination, and targeted legal reforms as the country’s counterfeit trade increasingly migrates from shopping centers to online marketplaces.
IPOPHL Director General Teodoro Pascua said authorities need to broaden the fight against fake goods beyond traditional hotspots such as Greenhills Shopping Center, arguing that e-commerce platforms now account for a larger share of counterfeit sales by value.
“The focus is wrong with respect to Greenhills,” Pascua told reporters. “They’re looking at Greenhills as a source of counterfeit goods, but in terms of value, you get more counterfeits online than in the physical market.”
His remarks come as Greenhills continues to appear on the United States’ watchlist of notorious markets linked to counterfeit products, despite ongoing efforts to curb illicit trade.
To address the growing online threat, IPOPHL is advocating amendments to the nearly three-decade-old Intellectual Property Code, including the introduction of a formal take-down mechanism that would compel digital platforms to remove counterfeit listings more swiftly.
The proposed measure has already secured committee-level approval in the House of Representatives and is expected to advance further in Congress.
While awaiting legislative action, IPOPHL has been working with major e-commerce platforms to voluntarily remove suspected counterfeit listings once flagged by trademark owners.
Pascua also called for closer collaboration among government agencies, including the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Customs, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, to track financing networks behind counterfeit operations, strengthen enforcement, and ensure seized fake goods are destroyed rather than finding their way back into the market.
Rather than pursuing a sweeping overhaul of the Intellectual Property Code, Pascua said Congress should prioritize “bite-sized” amendments, arguing that focused reforms stand a better chance of passage as authorities race to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital counterfeit economy.
