Kita Kita, the latest sleeper hit to come out of the the Philippines’ independent film scene has raked in more than PHP200 million pesos (approx. USD3.9 million) on its second week in theaters, but it is still not safe from online piracy.
The independently-produced romantic comedy tells the story of Lea (Alessandra de Rossi) who suffers from temporary blindness after finding out that her boyfriend cheated on her. She meets Tonyo (Empoy Marquez) in Japan, where they both work, and the two develop an unexpected relationship.
On Thursday, the film’s official Facebook page posted a statement from the the producers of the film, reminding the public of the legal implications of creating, sharing, or posting a link of the movie on social media.
But fighting online piracy is not so simple, especially in a country with some of the most active social media users in the world. Unless you are the owner of the stolen material, Facebook’s current copyright infringement policy does not allow users to report videos they think may have been pirated.
Philippine laws are similar. Last year, Josephine Santiago, then the director general of Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines told GMA News that the organization can only act when a complaint has been filed. She explained that violations of intellectual property rights are seen as private matters, limiting their power.
The Philippines does not have a law that specifically forbids online piracy. Today, cases of online piracy are tried under the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines and the Cybercrime Prevention Act.
A 2015 report by MUSO, an organization that tracks piracy around the world, ranked the Philippines as part of the top 50 countries with the highest online piracy rates. Apart from Facebook, movies like Kita Kita are also posted and uploaded on YouTube and torrent and streaming websites.
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