FILCOLS’ I.P. In the Age of Jejemon jumps to Ateneo de Naga

FILCOLS held its second IP in the Age of Jejemon lecture in the south!

IP in the Age of Jejemon jumped south last 14 December 2010. The lecture was held at the Sch. Richard Michael Fernando Conference Hall, Ateneo de Naga University, Naga city, Camarines Sur. Almost forty students (coming from Development Communications and other courses) and professors from Ateneo de Naga University attended the event. Alvin Buenaventura, the executive director of FILCOLS, presented some powerpoint slides about the connection of the Philippine economics, intellectual property, education and the students’ culture.

The participants were very attentive because the speaker seldom spoke in English. He delivered the lecture in Filipino, sprinkling some technical terms in English now and then. Among the matters he discussed is the connection of US Trade Report, the Bicolano farmers and the newest pirated DVD copy of Narnia.

After the lecture, an open forum followed. One professor shared his experience with a company that commissioned him. He was asked to make a software program and was paid accordingly. But after some time, he was surprised to find out that the company altered the software program and sold copies of it to other companies.

Atty. Mark Robert Dy, the copyright consultant of IPO Philippines, stated that the company didn’t have the right to do that. The company bought only one copy of the software program and by default, didn’t have any right to reproduce it or a substantial part of it as well.

Afterwards, students threw in questions like: what is your reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in the recent plagiarism case?

The lecture/forum didn’t have enough time to answer all the queries from the enthusiastic students. But Alvin Buenaventura encouraged them to send queries to his personal email address and the FILCOLS email address.

FILCOLS IP in the Age of Jejemon project aims to help the students be aware of what they can do for the country through respect for IP. The first lecture was held in College of Commerce and Business Administration, University of Santo Tomas. The lecture in Naga was organized by Filipinas Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS), with the cooperation of Kabulig Writers headed by Ateneo professor Victor Dennis T. Nierva and the Social Sciences Department of Ateneo de Naga University. Sponsors are Norway’s Norcode and Kopinor.