Philippines, June 26, 2008 – The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the Philippines has served its first ever temporary restraining order (TRO) against a pirate cable operator – Turtle Cable, a company in Baao, Camarines Sur province – for copyright infringement. This latest move by the IPO has been applauded by the international pay-TV industry.
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) welcomed the decision.
“This is the first time we have brought a cable piracy case to the IPO, and we are pleased that the IPO administrative judge has recognized the validity of the TV industry’s concerns about protecting our intellectual property,” said Simon Twiston Davies, Chief Executive Officer of CASBAA.
The order enjoins Turtle Cable from re-distributing international cable channels for which it does not have a distribution contract. It is the result of a series of complaints filed by CASBAA on behalf of the broadcasters who own their copyrighted programs.
After preliminary hearings and arguments from both sides, the IPO issued the restraining order. Further arguments on the case will be heard in June and July before a final injunction will be considered.
“This is an important test case,” said Twiston Davies. At the end of the process, if the IPO issues an injunction and the cable company persists, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will be asked to revoke Turtle Cable’s operating license. This procedure was spelled out in rules finalized last year under an inter-agency Memorandum of Agreement between the IPO and the NTC.
“Cable piracy remains rampant in the Philippines, and the government is beginning to recognize how damaging this is for the entire legitimate industry,” said Timothy Bautista, Cable Boss Chief Operating Officer. We are pleased to see this first sign of concrete action.”
Last year CASBAA estimated that for every Philippine home wired for legitimate cable TV, at least one – and probably more — viewed pirated programs. The Association believes this cost the industry US$85 million dollars in annual revenue. It also deprived the Philippine government of US$38 million in tax payments that could have contributed to its development programs, said Twiston Davies.
Meanwhile, CASBAA continues to urge the Philippine courts to move forward with the pending criminal cases against well-known Cotabato City cable operator Maguindanao Skycable and its officers, including its President Mrs. Estrellita Juliano-Tamano. The Department of Justice recently reaffirmed its determination finding probable cause for filing charges against Maguindanao Skycable, and ordered the state prosecutor to proceed with charges for copyright violation. The cases against Maguindanao Skycable stem from a series of complaints by TV channel owners that the company pirated their signals and distributed them to customers without authorization and without paying the required copyright licensing fees. The defendant company had asked the Department of Justice to reconsider its decision, but the Department responded that its decision to proceed with the cases was final and said no further motion for reconsideration shall be entertained.” CASBAA expressed the hope that the complaints would now be rapidly considered by the courts.
CASBAA represents 130 organisations in the pay-TV business across 15 Asian markets. Philippine members of the Association include GMA and ABS-CBN, both of which market Filipino content overseas, as well as Sky Cable and an affiliation with the Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA).
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About CASBAA – www.casbaa.com
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) is an industry-based advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel TV via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA represents some 130 member organisations in the pay-TV business, which in turn serve more than three billion people. Members include Asia Broadcast Satellite, AsiaSat, Astro, Australia Network, Bloomberg Television, Chunghwa Telecom, Discovery Networks Asia, Genesis Networks, Granada International/ITV Worldwide, HBO Asia, Intelsat, Lionsgate, Macquarie Group, MediaFLO Technologies, Motorola, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, NDS, Nokia, now TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SES NEW SKIES, SingTel, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, TrueVisions, Turner International Asia Pacific, VOOM HD Networks Asia, Walt Disney Television International, Al Jazeera, Amarchand Mangaldas, Arqiva, Asian Food Channel, AVIT, BEE MediaSoft, BBC Global Channels Asia-Pacific, BigBand Networks, Celestial Movies, CONAX, Deutsche Welle, ESPN STAR Sports, EuroNews, Eurosport, GroupM, Hong Kong Cable TV, IMCL (Incablenet and Indigital), iMediaHouse, INX Network, Irdeto, KDB Skylife, Kbro, Lovells, Measat, MGM Networks, Microsoft Corporation, Minter Ellison, National Geographic, NBC Universal Global Networks Asia Pacific, Network18, Paul Weiss, Playboy TV, ProtoStar, Providence Equity, PT Direct Vision, Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, SAT-GE, Sky Cable, Spectrum Value Partners, Tandberg Television, Tata Sky, TBN, Telkomvision, Ten Sports, TFN Media, TimeWarner, TRACE, TV5MONDE, Universal Electronics, Viaccess and Zee TV.
For enquiries, please contact:
CASBAA
Helen Shek / Carmen Mak
Tel: +852 2854 9943
Fax: +852 2854 9530
Email: pr@casbaa.com