OCC Kapihan:

Copyright Issues and Answers

Opening Remarks by Madame Judge Gilda Loja

Coloring books for adults have had very high sales, with the pioneer being Secret
Garden by Johanna Basford in 2012.

Coloring Book for Adults Philippines (CBAP), with its approximately 4000
members, is possibly the largest group of adult colorists.

The biggest draw of the group is the social aspect of coloring, which is the sharing of
work among community members.

The problem is that a lot of people like to download coloring pages without proper
attribution. Some individuals even claim these coloring pages as their own.

Members of CBAP have experienced quite a number of issues with plagiarism (also
known as infringement) of their works as well

Artists have copyright over their illustrations. What copyrights do coloristas have?
To what extent can a colorista claim their colored work as their own?

Lecture by Guest Speaker Atty. Marvin Aceron

Atty. Marvin Aceron is a graduate of Ateneo Law School. He worked at the Intellectual Property
division of the Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos law firm before he started his own firm, Aceron
Punzalan Vehemente Avila and Del Prado, where he is the head of Intellectual Property.
- (From Mme. Lojas opening remarks)

There are not many copyright cases in the Philippines. Most examples in this talk
today will be based off of American law, which is the basis of intellectual property
law in the Philippines.

Infringement or not? Three Examples

Notetakers Note: Please refer to the video coverage for better explanation of this part of the
lecture. What was essentially involved was that before and after the lecture, Atty. Aceron
had us decide whether or not there was infringement in the examples he presented.

OCC KAPIHAN: Copyright Issues and Answers | April 2, 2016 | Page 2 of 4

1. Puppies
2. Obama HOPE
3. The Rock Man

The Fair Use Doctrine

Atty. Aceron explained that this doctrine is the test used by courts of law to determine
whether or not a work is an infringement of another. It has four elements:
1. Purpose and Character of Use: Kumita ka ba diyan?
2. Nature of the Copyrighted Work: for the case of a colorista, the copyrighted
work is a coloring book or coloring page. The nature of the work is that it is
meant to be COLORED. You cannot then infringe it by coloring it.
3. Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Used in Relation to the
Copyrighted Work: Gaano ba kadami yung kinopya mo?
4. Effect of the Use on the Potential Market for or Value of the Copyrighted
Work: If you do this, will the other person not make money anymore?
Notetakers Note: These tests may also be used by coloristas to determine whether
or not their intended use of a coloring page or other work of art constitutes
infringement.

Four Important Points to Remember from Atty. Aceron

1. Every idea is a repetition of another.
o

Nobody owns an idea. The idea belongs to the community, to humanity.

No person can appropriate because we all have the same ability to think.

THEREFORE, there is no copyright over any idea!

Notetakers Note: this means that you cannot claim copyright over a
certain coloring style, because that is an idea.

You can never steal an idea if an idea belongs to all of us. You can only repeat
it.

2. The originality of an artistic expression is protected.

OCC KAPIHAN: Copyright Issues and Answers | April 2, 2016 | Page 3 of 4

o

Artistic expression is appropriated at the moment of creation

Notetakers Note: This means that the moment you create a colored
work, you hold the copyright over what you colored. You do not need to
have it registered anywhere.

The Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines provides that works are
given copyright protection the moment they are created.

What does copyright protection entail? ECONOMIC rights and MORAL

rights

Economic rights: rights that result in the creator getting money for
their work, such as its reproduction and its adaptation into other
forms (for example, a book can be made into a movie)

Moral rights: these are rights of attribution, which involves giving

credit to the creators of the work (Notetakers Note: this is what the
Name Them to Thank Them Campaign is doing. By crediting the
original artists in our colored work, we are respecting their moral
rights)

3. Copyright is about fairness

o

An artist has the right under the law to have the original expression of their
work protected.

However, its not as simple as that!

Notetakers Note: this is why copyright issues arise, because one
person may have a different definition of original expression from
another person.

4. Nobodys perfect, but we all have the ability to respect each other

Winner line from our esteemed guest speaker: Except my wife, shes perfect!
o

If you copy a work from another person, you have to attribute! You cannot
just hide behind the excuse of fair use.

Other Important Points made during the Open Forum

Copyright cases are hard and expensive. The best way to go about it is just to
respect each other.

OCC KAPIHAN: Copyright Issues and Answers | April 2, 2016 | Page 4 of 4

Notetakers Note: this means to respect the MORAL RIGHTS, or rights of
attribution, of everyone.

When in doubt, go through the four elements of the test of fair use to determine if
your usage is a form of infringement.

Acknowledgement is your safety net.

A good solution to attribution if you do not know who the author is: state Unknown
artist (if you know who you are, please tell me).

THE ISSUE OF USING GRAYSCALE IMAGES: If you upload something to the

internet, is it already public domain?
o

The internet is both a bane and a boon. It does not mean that when you
upload a painting to the internet, everyone gets the right to use it in any way
they wish.

The internet can be used by artists to make themselves known, but it does
not give others the right to make them grayscale. This violates their moral
rights!

It is erroneous to tell the painter not to upload their work so no one will
grayscale it.

The fair thing to do would be to ask permission from the

painter/photographer/creator before turning it into a grayscale image for
coloring purposes. Most artists are happy to reply anyway, so always ask
them for permission!

Mme. Loja: We have to be responsible internet users!

Being sued or not sued is not the point. RESPECT IS.

It is still copyright infringement if you have a single distributor and another

distributor sells your work without your permission.

It is up to the members of the group to police ourselves.