FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
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SENATE 
S. No. 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Philippines is becoming Asia's dumping ground of optical disk pirates, 
warned Richard O'Neill, an official of the association of America's top seven movie 
studios, adding the proliferation of counterfeit products would lead to the loss of local 
jobs. 
The local film industry is colIapsing due to piracy. In fact, the Philippines ranks 
No. 5 among 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region considered markets of optical disk 
pirates. The top four are Vietnam, Pakistan, China, and Indonesia. 
Movie production in the Philippines is down by 80 percent as annual production 
slid to 80 films a year from 200 previously. This slowdown has led to P1.7 billion in 
foregone tax revenues, and has affected close to 110,000 jobs. 
The film distribution industry stands to lose over a billion pesos in investments, 
while government risks losing P400 million in tax revenues should the industry collapse. 
Close to a million Filipino jobs were affected by the proliferation of pirated videos, while 
nearly 50 centavos out of every peso of potential earnings of the whole local film 
industry was lost to pirates. 
To strengthen the government's drive against piracy, prevention should start at 
movie houses where unauthorized recording of motion pictures is done. This Act seeks to 
discourage film piracy by imposing criminal penalties for unauthorized recording motion 
picture exhibition facility. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
First Regular Session 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
6 ,Mi 29 ? :; 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
TO PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED 
PICTURES IN A MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITION FACILITY, 
AND CIVIL PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED 
PRERELEASE COPYRIGHTED WORKS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act may be cited as the “Artists’ Rights and 
Theft Prevention Act of 2008” or the “ART Act of 2008.” 
SECTION 2. Statement of Policy. - Intellectual property, among other things, 
represents the ideas, imagination and creativity needed to innovate long before a product 
is brought to market. As such, it is fundamental to the continued economic, social, and 
cultural development of society and deserves the protection of our laws. The use of 
camcorders and other andiovisnal recording devices in movie theaters to make illegal 
copies of films is posing a serious threat to the motion picture industry. National 
legislation is necessary and warranted to combat the most egregious forms of online theft 
of intellectual property and its significant, negative economic impact on the Philippine 
economy. 
SECTION. 3. Criminal Penalties for Unauthorized Recording of Motion Pictures 
in Action Picture Exhibition Facility. - 
(A) OFFENSE - Whoever, without the consent of the copyright owner, 
knowingly uses or attempts to use an audiovisual recording device in a motion picture 
exhibition facility to transmit or make a copy of a motion picture or other audiovisual 
thereof, in a motion picture exhibition facility shall-. 
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(1) be imprisoned for not more than ten years, fined under this Act 
(2) if the offense is a second or subsequent offense, be imprisoned for no 
more than twenty years, fined under this title, or both. 
(B) FORFEITURE AND DESTRUCTION - When a person is convicted of a 
violation of subsection (A), the court in its judgment of conviction shall, in addition to 
any penalty provided, order the forfeiture and destruction or other disposition of all 
unauthorized copies of motion pictures or other audiovisual works, or parts thereof, and 
any audiovisual recording devices or other equipment used in connection with the 
offense. 
(C) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES - This section does not prevent any lawfully 
authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity by an officer, agent, or 
employee of the Philippine government, or its political subdivision, or a person acting 
pursuant to a contract with the Philippine government or any of its political subdivisions. 
SECTION 4. Definition of Terms. -As used in this Act, the following terms shall 
mean: 
(A) AUDIOVISUAL WORK, COPY, AND MOTION PICTURE - audiovisual 
works consisting of a series of related images which, when shown in succession, impart 
an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds, if any. 
(B) AUDIOVISUAL RECORDING DEVICE - a digital or analog photographic 
or video camera, or any other technology capable of enabling the recording or 
transmission of a copyrighted motion picture or other audiovisual work, or any part 
thereof, regardless of whether audiovisual recording is the sole or primary purpose of the 
device. 
(C) MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITION FACILITY- 
means any theater, 
screening room: lobby, indoor or out-door screening venue, ballroom, or other premises 
where copyrighted motion pictures or other audio-visual works are publicly exhibited, 
regardless of whether or not an admission fee is charged. 
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SECTION 5. Civil Remedies for Infringement of a Commercial Prerelease 
Copyrighted Work; Damage for Prerelease Infringement. - 
(A) IN GENERAL- In the case of a computer program, a non-dramatic musical 
work, a motion picture or other audiovisual work, or a sound recording, that is being 
prepared for commercial distribution, actual damages shall be presumed conclusively to 
be no less than Two Hundred Thousand Pesos (P200,OOO.OO) per infringement, if a 
person - 
(1) distributes such work by making it available on a computer network 
accessible to members of the public who are able to reproduce the work through 
such access without the express consent of the copyright owner; and 
(2) 
knew or should have known that the work was intended for 
commercial distribution. 
(B) WORK PREPARED FOR DISTRBUTION- 
For purposes of subparagraph 
(A), a work protected under this Title is being prepared for commercial distribution - 
(1) when at the time of unauthorized distribution, the copyright owner had 
a reasonable expectation of substantial commercial distribution and the work had 
not yet been so distributed; or 
(2) in the case of a motion picture, protected under this title, when a the 
time of unauthorized distribution, the work had been made available for viewing 
in motion picture exhibition facilities, but had not been made available to the 
general public in a format intended to permit viewing outside motion picture 
exhibition facilities. 
SECTION. 6. Implementing Agency. - The Optical Media Board shall implement 
the provisions of this Act. 
SECTION 7. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held invalid 
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall 
remain valid and subsisting. 
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accordingly. 
SECTION 8. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, 
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to, 
or inconsistent with, the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified or amended 
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Approved, 
SECTION 9. Effectivity Clause. -This Act shall take effect fifteen days (15) days 
after its publication in at leas two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
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