By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT Copyrights holders have been urged to tap collective management organizations (CMOs) for efficient arrangement on fee collections, protection and exploitation of rights. Director General Rowel S. Barba of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said at the first Copyright Forum Series organized by his agency that by tapping CMOs, creators can devote all their time and resources on doing and perfecting their craft. “Tapping a CMO is a low-cost and convenient track to take,” he said. The new IPOPHL chief explained that CMOs offer the best arrangement for copyright holders. “They administer the exploitation of your rights, from collecting fees to warning and going after those who infringe on your rights,” he said. Besides the benefits CMOs render to copyright holders, they also help businesses that use copyrighted works for commercial purposes do so in a legal manner. “With CMOs, users of protected works are offered a single payment and processing facility. To pay to and seek permission from copyright holders, these users will only need to coordinate with one collecting group relevant to the type of copyrighted work. Such convenient and practical arrangement is essential because if users don’t comply with our IP Law, that could mean imprisonment of between one to three years and a fine of between ₱50,000 to ₱150,000. And that’s only for the first offense,” Barba added. Meantime, lack of awareness and basic understanding of the intellectual property system, particularly copyright and related rights, remained to be one of the biggest problems stifling the creative economy. This problem raised at the forum has long been a familiar one not only to copyright holders but to all IP owners either of trademark, patents, utility models or industrial design whose works can be undermined by society’s inadequate appreciation of IP. The root cause of this challenge has been due to IP's traditional stereotype as an esoteric subject. However, what’s worse but is common to this day is that copyright holders are often in limbo as to the full suite of rights they could exercise to protect their intellectual creations. “The field of copyright and related rights protection, is indeed, a web of legal intricacies and can be highly technical for any average copyright holder without expertise in law. For copyright holders, managing their rights to a full extent may be burdensome, or even unrealistic when their works become the subject of mass-level infringement, a crime which is intentionally and unintentionally conducted in the digital world on a day-to-day basis,” Barba said. “But the copyright system should be viewed as not a stifler of creativity but rather a driver of it. After all, the copyright system is one way for artists to devote themselves to their craft while also earning a decent and well-deserved pay,” Barba added. Other concerns raised by CMOs include the need for a refined definition of fair use and stretching the period of validity of accreditation for CMOs to five years from three, among others.