The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has defended the country’s enforcement record in comments on the US Trade Representative’s 2026 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, Manila Bulletin reported on 23 October. Director General Teodoro C. Pascua set out the response in a 21 October letter to Assistant USTR Daniel Lee, which the paper says it has seen. [1]

The letter answers submissions from industry groups. UNIFAB said its members saw counterfeit visibility on Shopee in the Philippines four to five times higher than on a comparable regional marketplace, and cited cumbersome reporting, weak action against repeat infringers and sellers returning under new store names. TRACIT raised concerns about Shopee and Lazada, and Frontier Advisers about Lazada’s takedown process. The Motion Picture Association named Kisskh and the LokLok network as piracy services with significant Philippine use. [1]

UNIFAB also named 168 Shopping Mall and 999 Shopping Mall in Manila and Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City. It said enforcement at one of the two Manila malls tended to push the activity to the other, and that new vendors had replaced some stalls closed at Greenhills. These are claims made in the groups’ submissions, not findings. [1]

IPOPHL’s enforcement office received 137 IP violation reports between 1 January and 19 October, 80 on counterfeiting and 47 on piracy, and about 90% involved online activity. Of the online reports, Facebook accounted for 66%, Shopee 10%, Instagram 8%, TikTok Shop 6% and Lazada 2%. Agencies on the National Committee on IP Rights had seized an estimated ₱4.38 billion of counterfeit and pirated goods as of October, led by the Bureau of Customs (₱1.54 billion) and the National Bureau of Investigation (₱1.44 billion). IPOPHL said its voluntary site-blocking mechanism had produced four blocking requests covering more than 40 pirate sites. [1]

IPOPHL also acknowledged continuing concerns over repeat infringers, gaps in seller identity verification, inconsistent notice-and-takedown procedures and platform enforcement transparency. [1]

The platform shares describe complaints made to IPOPHL, not where counterfeits are most common, and the report does not say what period the ₱4.38 billion covers. For brand owners, the more useful line is IPOPHL’s own list of gaps, which matches the industry complaints on repeat sellers and takedowns. Whether any of the named markets appear on USTR’s 2026 list is the next point to watch.

Sources

1. Manila Bulletin. IPOPHL defends Philippine crackdown as groups flag counterfeit trade, online piracy. Published 2026-10-23 19:19 Manila time. English. Byline: Ben Arnold de Vera. Accessed 25 October 2026.