FILCOLS enters the last stage in international agreements with Malaysia, India at the IFRRO World Congress and General Assembly in Iceland

 

FILCOLS enters the last stage in international agreements with Malaysia, India at the IFRRO World Congress and General Assembly in Iceland

 

 

The Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) reached the last step in the bilateral agreements with the Malaysia Reprographic Rights Centre (MARC) and the Indian Reprographic Rights Organization (IRRO) at the sidelines of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO) World Congress and general assembly in Reykjavik, Iceland on October 4.

 

“Once signed by the chairs of MARC, IRRO, and FILCOLS, the two new international agreements will bring our total to 19 collective management organizations (CMOs) from different countries,” said Regina Reyna “Reg” V. Pastor, FILCOLS membership officer.

 

Bilateral agreements allow CMOs to exchange repertoire. This means the works managed by FILCOLS will become part of the portfolio of MARC and IRRO, and vice versa.

 

FILCOLS and MARC at the ceremonial signing in Reykjavik, Iceland. (L-R) Ahmed Hussain Tajuddin (MARC),
Anita Huss-Ekerhult (IFRRO), and Reg Pastor (FILCOLS).
Photo by Pranav Gupta.

MARC led by its chief executive En. Ahmed Hussain Tajuddin and Pastor posed for the ceremonial signing of the documents in the presence of Anita Huss-Ekerhult, IFRRO’s new chief executive officer and secretary general.

 

MARC was established only in 2021 through the support of the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and IFRRO.

 

This year, the Malaysian CMO immediately signed its first license agreement with an international school operating in the country.

 

FILCOLS and IRRO at the ceremonial signing in Reykjavik. (L-R) Pranav Gupta (IRRO),
Anita Huss-Ekerhult (IFRRO), and Reg Pastor (FILCOLS).
Photo by Ahmed Hussain Tajuddin.

Publisher and chief of the Indian CMO Mr. Pranav Gupta represented IRRO during the ceremonial signing of the bilateral agreement documents.

 

“We also used the opportunity offered by the networking sessions to initiate talks with other CMOs from Malawi, Ghana, Jamaica, United Arab Emirates, and Belgium,” Pastor added.

 

FILCOLS and COSOMA. Reg Pastor with Lightwell Kachigamba Benjamin of the Copyright Society of Malawi.
Photo by Pranav Gupta.

Pastor is the lone representative of FILCOLS and the Philippines to the four-day event which started on October 2 and ended on October 5.

 

As a mentee in IFRRO’s ASEAN Mentorship Program, she made a presentation to update the officers and delegates on her progress and the status of FILCOLS.

 

Anita Huss-Ekerhult and Reg Pastor. Photo by Sarah Tran.

The Congress, hosted by Iceland’s CMO Fjölís, also welcomed IFRRO’s new chief executive officer Anita Huss-Ekerhult. She replaced Australian lawyer Caroline Morgan who sadly passed away in July this year due to cancer.

 

 

Reg Pastor with IFRRO President Tracey Armstrong. Photo by Sarah Tran.

 

The IFRRO Secretariat provided a two-day networking session to encourage members to connect and build relations with other member organizations.

 

Due to the request from members, they also gave room to each Regional Committee and Working Group to tackle issues and developments in their organizations. National Reports were also presented and one of the highlighted topics is the rise of artificial intelligence.

 

The Congress brought together 140 delegates from all over the world. Photo by Reg Pastor.

The regional committees are made up of the Asia Pacific, European Group, African, and Latin American and the Caribbean. The working groups are made up of the Visual, and the Newspaper and Periodicals.

 

To cap the Congress, IFRRO prepared a Gala Dinner at the Iceland Parliament Hotel to allow delegates to relax, enjoy sumptuous food, talk, and dance.

 

Reg Pastor presenting before the members of the Asia Pacific Committee. Photo by Pranav Gupta.

“I am happy to see Reg develop from a frightened and shy person to a confident FILCOLS officer,” said FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura.

 

“Despite traveling alone to far away Iceland and being delayed in Istanbul and Amsterdam for one day, she did not lose heart. I had to coach her along the way via messaging app to assure her while waiting for hours for her luggage, and instruct her about rebooking her flight, among others.”

 

Reg Pastor with IFRRO's Sarah Tran. Photo by Pranav Gupta.

Despite his inability to physically participate in Congress due to his health condition, Buenaventura facilitated the application of Pastor so she could travel and stay in Reykjavik with the grant provided by IFRRO. He also mainly crafted her reports and presentations.

 

 

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Reg Pastor and Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Reg Pastor, Ahmed Hussain Tajuddin, Sarah Tran, and Pranav Gupta. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

FILCOLS at the Accessible Books Creation Training in Quezon City Public Library

FILCOLS at the Accessible Books Creation Training in Quezon City Public Library

 

“Your creations are protected by copyright automatically," said Regina Reyna “Reg” V. Pastor before participants of the Accessible Books Creation (ABC) training held at the Quezon City Public Library on September 30.

“Copyright is basically your right to put your name on your work and your right to earn something if the work is sold,” Pastor added.

“Copyright is a bundle of rights and its two main components are moral rights and economic rights. Every time an author puts his or her name on a work, he or she exercises moral rights; and whenever we see a book, film, music, or painting displayed for sale, we know that the creators of these works are exercising their economic rights.”

Reg Pastor explaining the purpose of a collective management organization like FILCOLS.
Photo by Wowie Catabijan.

The rest of copyright law revolves around the scope of moral rights and economic rights of authors; and the rights of the users to access these works.

Pastor was speaking before an audience made up of authors, publishers, and members of the visually impaired and blind.

The training session aims to equip participants with knowledge and skills on how to produce books and other works accessible to the visually impaired and blind community.

Allan Mesoga conducted the training on how to produce books accessible to the visually impaired and blind readers.
 Photo by Shai Gondra.

Bookshare Ambassador Allan Mesoga conducted the ABC Training. He is also a Senior Education Program Specialist at the Department of Education – Bureau of Learning Development.

FILCOLS trustee and Kahel Press officer Wowie Catabijan explains why publishers should support the creation of "born accessible" books. Photo by Shai Gondra.

The event was organized by Kahel Press main officer Wowie Catabijan, who is also a FILCOLS trustee. Aside from FILCOLS, other organizations involved in the event were Bookshare Philippines, the Quezon City Public Library, and the QC Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO QC).

 

To know more about the ABC Training, please click the link below to the FB page of Kahel Press:

https://www.facebook.com/kahelpress/posts/pfbid0ripmfFF6vMkeKeTgLuih6XPnsZeKfGzn3s7j38QrxENhFALSAHaycyvoYqewd2Vrl

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Shai Gondra and Wowie Catabijan. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

 

  

FILCOLS Talks about IP, Social Media, and AI at the 20th PASADO National Seminar

 

FILCOLS Talks about IP, Social Media, and AI at the 20^th PASADO National Seminar

Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) membership officer Regina Reyna “Reg” V. Pastor explained the importance of copyright at the 20^th PASADO National Seminar held at the National Teachers College, Manila on September 22.

Pastor presented the report prepared by FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura before Pampelikulang Samahan ng mga Dalubguro members. This is an organization of teachers and other professionals who advocate for the effective use of film in teaching and acquiring knowledge.

“Respect for copyright is respect for the human rights of authors,” Pastor said quoting Buenaventura. We must remember that real people are behind the texts, images, music, and videos we consume offline and online. Copyright and intellectual property rights extend even to the internet.

Located in Quiapo, Manila, the National Teachers College was established in 1928.
Photo by the NTC Career Placement Office.

Public access is not the same as the public domain. Due to the developments in technology, the public can access a lot of work online. The fact that they are publicly available does not mean we can disregard IPRs.

The public domain is a law-created world for works with expired copyright and those not given copyright protection like government works. In the Philippines, the duration of copyright is the lifetime of the author plus 50 years after death. Works in the public domain are free for the public to use in whatever way they want.

Just because we can access many works online does not mean these are already part of the public domain. They may be publicly available but are not necessarily in the public domain. Many of these works are protected by copyright.

Reg Pastor before participants at the 20th PASADO National Summit. 
Photo by Shai Gondra. 

Unless the author expressly indicated that the work may be used freely, our default assumption is it is under copyright thus we need to attribute properly and seek permission if we wish to use them, especially for large-scale uses.

Not everything posted and shared on social media is under the public domain. The same default assumption should prevail if we want to use the works of others on a large scale.

The rise of Generative AI

The rise of generative AI like ChatGPT and DALLE means the creation of works is no longer the sole turf of humans. As of now, humans still need to use prompts to coax the AI to produce texts, images, music, and videos. But the exponential speed of development in hardware and software means AI will eventually do it without human prompts.

As educators, we need to be vigilant and not be afraid to engage with social media and AI. We need to update a lot of things like the definition of plagiarism which points to a human source.

The classic definition of plagiarism is passing off another person’s work as your own. How can we accuse a student of plagiarism if the work submitted was produced by AI?

We need to update school policies

The student handbook and other school policies need to be updated in the face of the rapid developments in AI.

There was a time when schools allowed students to have their smartphones inside the classroom. This changed when teachers discovered that students were cheating in their exams using smartphones. 

Now all schools ban the use of smartphones, especially during exams. The same rule is applied to professional exams like the bar for prospective lawyers.

After the presentation, a number of participants shared their own experiences both as creators of works and users of the works of others.

Experts from various universities

With the theme “Rebolusyong Industriyal 4.: Eksplorasyon at Perspektiba sa Wika, Pelikula, at Panitikan” (Industrial Revolution 4: Exploration and Perspectives on Language, Film, and Literature), the national summit brought presenters from other higher education institutions like Sherwin C. Teves, Polytechnic University of the Philippines; Sara Mae S. Robin, Far Eastern University - Manila; Louise Vincent B. Amante, University of Asia and the Pacific; and Andrea P. Aligue, Ph.D., Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology.

Award-winning author and ABS-CBN screenwriter Jerry B. Gracio opened the summit as the first speaker. He discussed his experiences in crafting teleseryes (TV series) for the largest network in the country.

Actor Allen Dizon was a special guest and led the ribbon cutting at the 25^th Gawad PASADO exhibit at the NTC lobby in the presence of guests and officials of NTC and PASADO. Dizon, a multi-awarded actor, is also a member of PASADO.

Actor Allen Dizon and Reg Pastor at the opening of the 25th Gawad PASADO Exhibit.
Photo by Shai Gondra.

FILCOLS expresses deep gratitude to Dr. Monreal “Mic” N. Camba, the summit director, and Bebang Siy, for allowing us to present at the national summit. Both are long-standing members of FILCOLS.

FILCOLS staff Shai Gondra accompanied Pastor to assist during the presentation.

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Shai Gondra and Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Shai Gondra and the NTC CPO. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

FILCOLS Joins Partners in QC's Inclusive White Cane Month Celebration for Readers with Print Disabilities

 

FILCOLS Joins Partners in QC's Inclusive White Cane Month Celebration for Readers with Print Disabilities

In support of making books accessible to those with a print disability, Regina Reyna "Reg" V. Pastor, membership officer of the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS), addressed participants at the Quezon City executive hall during the White Cane Month event on August 14.

Reg Pastor explains the advantages of being a member of FILCOLS. 
Photo by Shai Gondra.

“Copyright is very important for creators,” said Pastor before the group composed of the visually impaired and their guardians, authors, publishers, and QC government staff. “The authors must be properly recognized like giving proper attribution and just remuneration if their works are used on a large-scale like photocopying and digital copying inside institutions.”

“For FILCOLS we protect the reproduction rights of authors so if you have a book, you may join us. Membership is free,” she added.

Candy Gourlay shares how she got rejected many times as a Filipino author in the UK.
Photo by Shai Gondra.

Award-winning author Candy Gourlay supported Pastor’s invitation and said she is also a member of a similar copyright society in the United Kingdom. The London-based author talked about her writing life and gave away CDs of her work “Tall Story” for the Quezon City Public Library.

White Cane Month is a national celebration made possible by RA 6759, a law crafted during the presidency of Corazon Aquino.

Candy Gourlay with the lucky participants who each received a copy of her book.
Photo by Shai Gondra.

The law aims to “promote and protect the physical, moral, and social well-being of all handicapped persons, such as the blind, and to undertake studies on specific causes of the high percentage of blind people in the Philippines.”

QC executive hall with participants celebrating White Cane Month.
Photo by Shai Gondra.

FILCOLS is one of the groups tapped by Wowie Catabijan, FILCOLS trustee and Kahel Press officer, to coordinate the event's organization to celebrate White Cane Month. The other groups are Kahel Press, Bookshare Philippines, the Philippine Blind Union, and the Persons with Disability Affairs Office of the Quezon City Government.

To view more photos, please click the link to Kahel Press FB below:

https://www.facebook.com/kahelpress/posts/pfbid0czTxZ6dpmMRHB9gRgsi2be4cJpq5g6FnS15L9WNJa4Vac4Cb7odLMcwNcx1AbZ78l

 

The authors allow the reposting of the unaltered article along with photos provided the following is included at the end:

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photos by Shai Gondra. For more information, please visit http://filcols.blogspot.com

 

 

FILCOLS Shares Response of Authors, Visual Artists on the Rise of AI at the National Summit of the Analytics Association of the Philippines

 

FILCOLS and AAP. (Clockwise, from top left) Prof. Art Patungan, UST; Angela Chen-Delantar, moderator and founder of Eskwelabs; Prof. Abet Ongkingco, DLS-CSB; Prof. Michelle Alarcon, AAP president; Alvin J. Buenaventura, FILCOLS; and Prof. Robert Besana, APC. 

FILCOLS Shares Response of Authors, Visual Artists on the Rise of AI at the National Summit of the Analytics Association of the Philippines

The National Summit of the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP) focused on the effects of the rise of AI on various industries. The Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) participated in the panel on the reactions of authors and visual artists in the book publishing industry to the coming of Generative AI tools on June 22 via Zoom.

FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura said that many authors look at AI as tools to help them in their writing projects. “We have members who use the premium version of ChatGPT to help them generate ideas for world-building and character profiles,” he added.

However, visual artists are more affected by image-generating AIs. According to Liza Flores, who was interviewed by Buenaventura prior to the summit, many visual artists are unhappy and do not support the use of these tools.

Some call image-generating AIs “extremely dangerous” because they are prone to be misused. If they are used for a long time, the artists end up not using their creative muscles and eventually just relying on images generated by AI.

Flores is a long-time member and past president of the Ilustrador ng Kabataan (INK), the country’s first and only organization dedicated to children’s books artists.

The AAP “is the enabling organization formed to take the lead in driving the growth and evolution of Analytics and Artificial Intelligence in the Philippines.”

FILCOLS is the organization established in 2008 to support the Philippine book publishing industry as the national collective management organization for text and images.

The full videos of the two-day event may be viewed via this link,

https://www.facebook.com/AnalyticsAndAIAssociationOfThePhilippines/videos/2484091618419079

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. This article may be re-posted as long as the author is acknowledged.

FILCOLS and CCP Collab: Empower KADIPAN members with Reading Materials, Information on Copyright and AI at the TALAB 2023 in PNU

 

FILCOLS and CCP Collab: Empower KADIPAN members with Reading Materials, Information on Copyright and AI at the TALAB 2023 in PNU

Despite the threat of Tropical Storm Chedeng, the Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) displayed remarkable determination. They met on June 7 at the Philippine Normal University in Manila, undeterred by the adverse weather, to celebrate TALAB 2023 alongside the PNU’s Kapisang Diwa at Panitik (KADIPAN) members.

Bebang Siy made a presentation on the free learning resources available online which were created by government cultural agencies.

“Learning resources like stories, articles, drawings, images, and videos are free to download to supplement the materials being used by educational institutions like the Philippine Normal University,” Siy said.

Siy is an officer at the CCP and a member of the board of FILCOLS.

FILCOLS executive director Alvin J. Buenaventura made a presentation via recorded video on copyright, artificial intelligence, and the work of a collective management organization (CMO) like FILCOLS.

“Authors are strongly encouraged to join FILCOLS so that we can protect their reproduction rights,” Buenaventura said. “Institutions that reuse copyrighted works via photocopying and digital copying on a large scale should get a license from FILCOLS to legalize their use. In turn, the remuneration we collect is distributed to our member authors and publishers.”

He explained the rise of AI especially generative AI which produces text, images, and videos. And that students should use them responsibly.

During the open forum, Buenaventura answered some of the questions through the Messenger communications app.

CCP, FILCOLS, and PNU-KADIPAN. Photo by Shai Gondra.

After the presentations, Siy formally turned over to PNU KADIPAN the reading materials collected by the CCP. Reg Pastor and Shai Gondra represented FILCOLS at the event. They turned over to the officers of KADIPAN the reading materials donated through the efforts of FILCOLS.

Established in 1966, the CCP is the leading government institution for arts and culture in the Philippines. FILCOLS is the only CMO organized in 2008 to support the book publishing industry.

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. Photo by Shai Gondra. Text and photo may be re-posted as long as the authors are acknowledged.

Visit the CCP FB to read the article written by Rajah Mekah Navarro

https://www.facebook.com/CCPIntertextualDivision/posts/567799685527355?ref=embed_post

FILCOLS at the World Book and Copyright Day Celebrations

 

FILCOLS at the World Book and Copyright Day Celebrations

In celebration of World Book and Copyright Day the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) organized the event with the theme “Gender Equality in Creativity: Celebrating Women Empowerment” on April 25 via Zoom.

Women prominent in the Philippine creative sector were the presenters and focus of the online event.

Bebang Siy, a FILCOLS trustee, made a presentation on the struggles of women writers as they balance family life with their writing commitments. She also highlighted the book launched during the pandemic In Certain Seasons: Mothers Write in the Time of Covid.

Here is the link to the full video of the event, https://fb.watch/nkkFB0qSUp/

 

Text by Alvin J. Buenaventura. This may be re-posted as long as the author is acknowledged.