IPOPHL Partners with Big Bad Wolf to Promote Reading Culture, Copyright Awareness
Published on December 23, 2019
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is collaborating with the world’s biggest book sale holder in a bid to foster within the country an appreciation of the copyright system, and help Filipinos develop a love for reading through affordable books.
On Dec. 10, 2019, Tuesday, IPOPHL Director General (DG) Josephine R. Santiago signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Big Bad Wolf (BBW) Books’ Executive Director Jacqueline Ng.
Under the MoU, IPOPHL and BBW Books will jointly launch programs and projects that will raise awareness and appreciation of the copyright system among authors, publishers, and readers, and will cultivate a culture of reading among Filipinos.
To implement this, IPOPHL, in the next BBW Book Sale to be held in the country in February 2020, will provide talks to enlighten authors on how to maximize the value of their copyright works, and underscore the need to respect the copyright and related rights of all creators of copyright material. IPOPHL will also be provided a booth for copyright creators to deposit their works.
“One of our main goals is to create programs to grow the local publishing industry by providing them with the tools and knowledge to jump-start their businesses. One of the main stumbling blocks for local authors in the Philippines is that they don't know where to start,” IPOPHL DG Santiago said.
The IPOPHL chief added that the partnership with internationally popular BBW Books makes for an excellent strategy for IPOPHL as it has intertwining goals with the organization.
“The Big Bad Wolf Books is on a worldwide mission to change the world one book at a time by creating the platform to inspire people and empower them with knowledge. Besides providing books at affordable prices, we also always work with local authors by selling their books or organizing a book signing ceremony,” BBW Books’ Executive Director Ng said.
“Meanwhile, IPOPHL is the Philippines’ lead government agency that is tasked to promote and protect the implementation of IPRs. With this partnership, we are able to spread awareness of intellectual property rights for aspiring authors and providing them the right direction in terms of methods to publish their books,” Ng added.
BBW Books sale events are also seen as an opportunity to encourage good reading habits among kids, especially following the release of a reading assessment survey by the Programme for International Student Assessment where the Philippines scored dismally.
“In a world where a large part of the population is engulfed in games and social activities online, we want to at least promote a balance between gaming and socializing and reading,” DG Santiago said.
“As IPOPHL promotes creativity and innovation, reading books, from which numerous inspirations can be taken, should also be highly encouraged. Thus, BBW Books’ offering of affordable books helps us achieve the greater objective of creating a society teeming with creativity and innovation,” the IPOPHL chief added.
BBW Books, whose sale events had been held in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, and Pampanga, is eyeing to spread its reach in other cities in the Philippines.
While their partnership is fresh from being inked, IPOPHL and BBW are already setting sights on collaborating on several other projects in the future to advance their causes on empowering the book industry and promoting reading and respect for copyright.
About Big Bad Wolf Books
Known as the World’s Biggest Book Sale, the Big Bad Wolf Books Sdn. Bhd. provides the widest selection of books possible at the lowest possible prices. It offers brand new books at discounts as high as 50% - 90%.
The Sale has been a landmark event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia since 2009. In 2018, the Sale visited 16 cities in 7 countries and in 2019, the Sale ventured into 3 new countries; Myanmar, Pakistan and South Korea.
BBW Books has toured across cities in Malaysia and abroad to Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Myanmar and Pakistan.