Just a few weeks ago, J.K. Rowling made muggle librarian Steve Van der Ark cry as she pursued a case that would prevent him from publishing a compendium of facts and details culled from the Harry Potter series.

The bestselling author strongly alleged that Van der Ark’s work would be a violation of her copyright.

The outcome of the case could change how copyright law applies to the Internet, and has other popular authors like Neil Gaiman talking about it.

To the average Filipino, this matter of copyright may seem like the sole domain of billionaire authors with beloved franchises riding on their shoulders. But the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, or Filcols, believes otherwise. The group, composed of writers, publishers, and government officials, believe that copyright is something that every creative Filipino — whether a writer or involved in some other medium — should be seriously informed about.

What is copyright in the first place?

According to Atty. Louie Andrew Calvario of the Intellectual Property Office (IP Philippines), copyright is "the legal protection extended to the owner of the rights for an original work that he or she has created." Every creative work — from books to periodicals to letters — is protected by this right, even if there is no legal paperwork involved.

"Works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of the mode or form of their expressions, as well as their content, quality or purpose," Calvario explains. "Finishing a work immediately gives you copyright, even with no government sanction involved."

Sanctioned or not, copyright involves big money, even if you’re not a writer with a novel about to be optioned by a huge studio. As explained by Filcols executive director Rolando R. De Vera, everyone involved in the publishing industry, -- from celebrated authors to the publishers themselves -- stands to lose something if their copyright is not enforced.

"The book industry in our country is suffering from an estimated P2 billion loss every year because of book piracy, particularly rampant and unauthorized reproduction of books by students," De Vera says. "Authors and publishers are having difficulty increasing the print run of textbooks because 1,000 or 2,000 copies can’t even be consumed in two years, considering we have so many students taking the same subject and using the same textbooks. Underground publishers continue to peddle their illegal copies without getting arrested."

Other than that, De Vera also says that writers face a myriad problems when it comes to protecting and earning from their copyright.

"Oftentimes, writers lack awareness of our copyright law, not knowing the economic and other rights embodied in the copyright," he says. "They don’t know how their copyrighted works can be protected from infringement and they can fall victim to unscrupulous booksellers and distributors who overprint their books without the proper licensing.

"There is also a big problem if authors and publishers will collect royalties from the reproduction of their books individually," De Vera continues. "Just imagine how an individual author or publisher can promote, sell or market his book, deliver to customers, and at the same time grant license and monitor the reproduction of his book to people all over the country."

De Vera says that with such a dire picture, it was inevitable that an organization like Filcols be established to help out authors.

"The authors and publishers banded together to form Filcols to collectively manage their rights and to control and curb book piracy," he says.

"Filcols can effectively provide a one-stop shop for both copyright owners and users to control and benefit from legalized, worry-free copying. Copyright owners can authorize Filcols to license limited copying from their works. Users can obtain through Filcols a license copy within limits. Filcols obtains fees for licensed copying and distributes the fees to the copyright owners."

The Filcols board is composed of chairman Virgilio S. Almario, National Artist for Literature; treasurer Lirio P. Sandoval of the Book Publishing Industry Association; authors Isagani R. Cruz, Abdon M. Balde, Jr., Galileo Zafra and Mariano Kilates. Local textbook publishers and local trade book publishers are represented by Jerry Vicente S. Catabijan and Karina Bolasco.

While the group is still only finding its legs, it already has plans of visiting various universities in order to negotiate a licensing agreement. Along with these visits, the group also plans to organize presentations in several school organizations in order to educate them about Filcols and copyright protection.

Adrian Cristobal, IPO Philippines director-general, says that Filcols is merely the beginning of the office’s drive towards establishing collection societies for all copyright protected works in the country.

The establishment of Filcols is part of the strategic plan of IP Philippines to facilitate the creation of four collection societies by 2009 through its Copyright Support Services Unit.

"Filcols was the first to be established since the office dealt with organized groups in the publishing industry," says Cristobal. "The Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (UMPIL) and the Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists (PEN) represented the writers. The Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP) represented the book publishers. The National Book Development Board (NBDB) likewise helped in organizing seminars on basic copyright and the collective management of these rights."

Members of Filcols believe that the society will have a tremendous impact on the lives of writers and other creative individuals in the country.

National Artist Virgilio Almario says the community of writers would benefit economically from the establishment of Filcols. "Once the systems are in place, writers will no longer be called or call themselves ‘starving artists’ because Filcols will be the muscle to collect what is due them every time their pieces are used. The collection society will also be actively marketing their work."

More importantly, both De Vera and Cristobal believe that Filcols and the other collecting societies to be established will help the general public realize the importance of copyright protection in their daily lives.

"Usually people infringing on copyrights are not aware of copyright or some are intentionally ignoring copyright," says De Vera. "The general public must be educated about copyright because if the general public will not infringe copyright, more writers will be motivated to create and publish more books. They will not be charged of infringing copyright and will save them from committing a crime."