Filipino songwriters reminded 2016 electoral candidates to pause before they hit play when it comes to using copyright-protected songs in campaign jingles.
This is in anticipation of the official campaign period set to start next week.
“The issue is IP rights. When a song is used, they have to ask permission from the owner,” Noel Cabangon, president of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (FILSCAP), told Mayen Jaymalin of The Philippine Star.
Intellectual property rights violations had been done in the past, said Cabangon, when campaigns used IP-protected songs as jingles without seeking consent from the songwriters.
“There are those who are not aware of the copyrighted works. They still need to comply with them even during elections since they use the music when campaigning,” he said.
Candidates may only use IP-protected songs or modify lyrics for their campaign jingles after getting a proper license from the copyright holders since the materials are being used for public performance.
Public performance is defined in Article 171.6 of Republic Act (RA) 8293 as “audible at a place or at places where persons outside the normal circle of a family and that family’s closest social acquaintance are or can be present.”
Copyright violators may be jailed a maximum of three years, or fined between PHP50,000 and PHP150,000 for the first offense.
Cabangon and his group sought the help of the Commission of Elections, and its chairman Andres Bautista has proposed to look into the possibility of forging a memorandum of agreement with FILSCAP and the Intellectual Property Office.
