Comics, youth slang to fight piracy

“Pirated Inferno,” a comic book by Manix Abrera, delves deep into the hellscape of piracy, echoing Dante’s Inferno but with a modern twist. It paints a bleak picture: a dark forest of twisted morals, a sea of tears shed by grieving artists, and a void where creativity struggles to ignite. Each circle of this inferno represents a different agony inflicted by cunning pirates, illustrating the profound anguish of creators who have witnessed their work crumble to ashes at the hands of pirates.

The Pirated Inferno comic book was created in partnership with the National Book Development Board (NBDB) with the aim of broadening the reach of IPOPHL’s information campaign among Filipinos, especially the youth, in protecting IP rights and making known the consequences of piracy to the economy, culture and society.

This month, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) released 5,000 hard copies of the Pirated Inferno comic book to celebrate the 16th founding anniversary of the National Committee on IP Rights — which IPOPHL steers as acting chair and vice chair. The online version of the comic book was previously released in 2023 with a soft launch held during last year’s Philippine Book Festival.

Pirated Inferno stands as the latest tool in our advocacy campaign, with the aim of appealing to the emotions and morals of our youth. Here, we tell of the ills and dangers of piracy in a narrative that is imaginative and that speaks more emphatically in the language of the youth. We see Pirated Inferno as jumpstarting more IPOPHL and NCIPR campaigns that leverage culture and slang to help the youth fully see the ugly picture of piracy and counterfeiting.

In this comic book, Abrera, renowned for his cartoons in various publications, shows his intimate understanding of the perils of piracy, especially for starting artists. This is what drove Abrera to readily accept the challenge to create an anti-piracy comic book in partnership with IPOPHL, NBDB and the NCIPR.

You may ask why the youth emerge as a critical component of the anti-piracy campaign.

The 2019 Baseline Study on IP Awareness, conducted jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization and IPOPHL, found that of five age groups, it was the youngest that patronized pirated digital content the most.

Out of 1,000 respondents, 35 percent, 31 percent and 28 percent, respectively, of those who downloaded free music, video games and movies online, and 14 percent of those who read free ebooks come from the youngest group segment aged 18 and 19. This group also sources free copies from their friends and YouTube.

According to the survey, some young respondents cited the ease in accessing free content compared to buying from authorized sellers, and that their peers do it anyway.

Pirated Inferno stands as the latest tool in our advocacy campaign, with the aim of appealing to the emotions and morals of our youth.

To the youth and to many others, no one seems to come out scathed from downloading movies from illegal sites and consuming them for a weekly movie night with family and friends. Our Pirated Inferno comic story challenges this belief by putting into focus the many stages and aspects of pain that artists go through when we put to risk their right to their royalties — royalties that could feed their families, royalties that would allow them to make more art for a decent living, and royalties that could paint a different future for the country’s entire creative economy.