#filvadro

City of Makati, Philippines – the Filipino Visual Arts and Design Rights Organization, Inc. (FILVADRO) through its President Karen Ocampo Flores represented the country in the two-day international conference held recently in Singapore organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

FILVADRO, the first and only collective management organization (CMO) for visual artists and designers in the Philippines, administers and enforces the copyright and related rights of its members over their artistic creations. The Licensing Program is the flagship program of the organization. The Enforcement Program, Education Program, Registry Program and Policy Advocacy Program complete the five programs based on the principle of copyright as a basic human right.

International linkages such as FILVADRO’s participation in this seminar and forging bilateral agreements with the group’s foreign counterparts, membership campaign, and facilitating licensing agreements between the organization’s members and users of copyright are sub-programs of the Licensing Program.

Manisekaran Amasi, Senior Program Officer of the WIPO Copyright Infrastructure Division, listed five ideal situations for a CMO to thrive in any country: national laws should have specified provisions for CMOs; CMOs should be legally constituted; government should pay royalties to the artists to serve as an example; government should work closely with CMOs and; the dispute settlement mechanism such as the Copyright Tribunal should be established.

In his topic, “Threshold and Criteria of an Efficient CMO”, Amasi said that the government has four fundamental roles: establish a legislative framework, lead copyright awareness efforts, provide authorization to CMOs before they operate, and supervise the CMOs. 

In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10372 has been approved on February 28, 2013 which amended certain provisions of the Intellectual Property Code or Republic Act No. 8293. One of the highlights of the amended law is the creation of a new bureau – the Bureau of Copyright and Other Related Rights. Among the functions of the new bureau is to “accept, review and decide on applications for the accreditation of collective management organizations or similar entities”.

In late April, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) conducted its second consultation meeting for CMOs to set the accreditation guidelines. FILVADRO participated in this meeting with its sister-CMOs Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (FILSCAP) and Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS).

“The regional seminar is a learning opportunity for FILVADRO as case studies and actual experiences were presented. It also enabled us to measure our growth vis-à-vis the examples provided by the speakers,” Ocampo Flores said. 

“FILVADRO, although a very young CMO barely three years in operations, passes the CMO Performance Benchmarking (CPB) set by WIPO. We are a not-for-profit organization, our operations are transparent, and the Board of Trustees and Management are all professionals in their respective fields,” Ocampo Flores added.

Candra N. Darusman, Deputy Director of WIPO Office in Singapore, said that CMOs should act in the best interest of its members hence the need for the non-profit structure of the organization. Darusman likewise emphasized the need for transparency since trust is involved and the need to practice of professionalism through good corporate governance and competitive compensation packages for the CMO’s employees.    

Twenty-one other countries participated in the regional conference billed "Regional Seminar on Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights: Issues and Challenges in Effective Administration of CMOs". International copyright experts such as Amasi and Darusman discussed topics that ranged from the functions and roles of a CMO to the criteria of an efficient copyright organization. A panel discussion that tackled the formulation and implementation of regulations for CMOs was also in the program of activities. 

Apart from the Philippines and the host country Singapore, the other attendees to the international conference represented Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Organizers, experts and delegates of the international copyright conference in Singapore: Denis Croze, Director of the WIPO Office in Singapore (front row, sixth from left); Pearle Kwan, Assistant Director of the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (front row, fifth from left) and; Daren Tang, Deputy Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (front row, fourth from left). Some of the speakers in the seminar were Manisekaran Amasi, Senior Program Officer of the Culture and Creative Industries Sector of WIPO Geneva (front row, fourth from right);  Jorgen Blomqvist, Honorary Professor of the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law (front row, fourth from right);  Satoshi Watanabe, Deputy General Manager of the General Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) in Tokyo (front row, first from left) and; Candra N. Darusman, Deputy Director of WIPO Office in Singapore (top row, third from left). Not in the photo is Intellectual Property Expert Ang Kwee Tiang.

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City of Makati – The Filipino Visual Arts and Design Rights Organization (FILVADRO) and TutoK Art Core, Inc. entered into a partnership to promote copyright awareness billed “TutoKahon: Oplan Copyright Advocacy with FILVADRO”.  The partnership is for the benefit of FILVADRO’s Education Program. The event will take place at the TutoK booth (D3) in Art in the Park on March 16, Saturday, at the Jaime Velasquez Park in Salcedo Village, Makati City from 2:00 p.m. to 12:00 m.n.

“TutoKahon: Oplan Copyright Advocacy with FILVADRO” at Art in the Park features artworks by FILVADRO members and other visual artists of the TutoK network. Other works by young and more established artists will also be featured in the TutoK booth.

FILVADRO is a collective management organization (CMO) that administers and enforces the copyright of its members over their visual creations. “While supporting copyright’s contribution to the economy, we also take cognizance that copyright is a basic human right,” FILVADRO President Karen Ocampo Flores said. She added, “It is embedded in its name, and our laws and international treaties have defined copyright as such”.

TutoK, on the other hand, is an advocacy art group that fosters artists’ rights and responsibilities. It supports FILVADRO’s cause on artists' copyright as part of its advocacy.

For this year, the TutoK booth will still sell the crowd favourite – the TutoKahon box set. The TutoKahon box set contains five (5) works on paper from five (5) different TutoK and FILVADRO visual artists. 

FILVADRO visual artists who are participating in TutoKahon 2013 include current and former Board of Trustees namely, Ocampo Flores, Egai Talusan Fernandez, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, Noel Soler Cuizon, Jef Carnay, Grace Dimaranan, Pandy Aviado, Noell El Farol, Marika B. Constantino and Emmanuel Garibay; and regular members Ambie Abaño, Nuneluncio Alvarado, Alfredo Liongoren, Al Perez, Genaro Gomez Sr., Raul Isidro, Zaldy Arbozo, Joey Cobcobo, Don Reich De Dios, Raymund Malicay, Othoniel Neri, AJ Tolentino, Kirby Roxas, Rolando Acuña and Eric Ambata.

TutoK artists participating in the partnership for the benefit of FILVADRO include Benjie Cabangis and Iggy Rodriguez.

During the event, FILVADRO also launches its Registry Program. The program aims to develop a system of documentation and introduce a practice among visual artists in keeping records to track for resale collection in case their works are sold through auctions and other sale transactions.  It will document the provenance or origins of an artwork and the first buyer of the artwork, and inform the buyer of the artist's economic and resale rights over the artwork.

Economic Rights cover the right of an artist to derive proceeds from the licensing, reproduction, adaptation, and publications and communications of original artistic creations. Resale Rights, on the other hand, include the right of an artist to earn a maximum of five percent (5%) in every sale or lease of their original artistic creations. Economic rights and Resale right last during the artist's lifetime and 50 years after death. 

FILVADRO will implement these artists' rights through its five developmental programs namely, the Registry Program, Licensing Program, Enforcement Program, Education Program and Policy Advocacy Program.   

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The Norwegian Copyright Development Association (Norcode) Board Member Hans-Petter Fuglerud and Managing Director Frode Løvik recently met with officials of the Filipino Visual Arts and Design Rights Organization (FILVADRO) to discuss plans of the Philippine group.

FILVADRO, a collective management organization (CMO), engages in partnerships and cooperation in education, registry and policy advocacy for copyright in the Philippine visual arts and design sector. Norcode aims to build on the cultural infrastructure of developing countries to contribute to their national identities and promote human rights. Norcode has been supporting FILVADRO since February 2011. 

The local CMO officials presented the results of the seven-month survey and analyses which conclude Phase 1 of the research billed Foundation and Butil (Seed), a guide for the group's three-year plan anchored on the survey results. Butil is likewise based on the consultation meetings with the organization’s Board members through the Strategic Planning Workshop held in the last quarter of 2012 and a Board committee meeting in January 2013.

"Our short-term plan will set the new phase and direction of FILVADRO particularly in the areas of financial management toward self-sustainability, and developmental programs in line with our vision to be champions of copyright with education for our community and its partners as our top priority," Karen Ocampo Flores, FILVADRO President, said.  

Apart from Ocampo Flores, the other Board of Trustees of the group consists of Egai Talusan Fernandez (Vice President), Imelda Cajipe-Endaya (Secretary), Noel Soler Cuizon (Treasurer), Jef Carnay (Assistant Treasurer), Virgilio Aviado, Marika B. Constantino, Grace Dimaranan and Noell EL Farol. The Board has been elected by its members in the First General Assembly on July 28, 2012.

The Foundation research is a landmark study that provided demographical data on the visual artists and designers in the country and the various awareness levels of the sector in relation to specific copyright topics.

The Foundation research forms part of the Education Program of FILVADRO. Close to 200 visual artists and designers across all art forms had been surveyed from the National Capital Region (NCR) to the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (CALABARZON) Region. Data gathered from the accomplished membership forms of the organization were also included in the demographics section of the study.

Key programs of FILVADRO which stem from the three-year plan will be launched beginning February in time for the National Arts Month.

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For more information on this article or to arrange for interviews, please email [email protected]. 

  The FILVADRO Foundation research, a landmark study on the awareness levels of various copyright topics among visual artists and designers in the country, was presented to (from left) Norcode Managing Director Frode Løvik and Board Member Hans-Petter Fuglerud.

(From left) FILVADRO President Karen Ocampo Flores and Executive Director Betty Uy-Regala discuss plans with Norcode Managing Director Frode Løvik and Board Member Hans-Petter Fuglerud.