The Philippines government has expanded its anti-software piracy campaign but is still coming under heavy criticism from organisations representing IP owners in the country.

The Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT), an inter-agency government group to fight IP crime, will lead a campaign called “Don’t Wait Until it’s Too Late” that will remind businesses to check that they are using legitimate software

The campaign, launched last week by National Bureau of Investigation director Nestor Mantaring and Philippine National Police director-general Jesus Verzosa will also make use of the Business Software Alliance’s offer of up to P1 million ($20,000) in rewards to informants offering substantive information on businesses using pirated software.

The USTR upgraded The Philippines last year in its 2008 Special 301 Report from Priority Watch List to Watch List. But the International Intellectual Property Alliance recommended a demotion this year, saying that IP protection got worse last year: “the legitimate market for foreign and local Philippine copyright was decimated by Internet piracy, mobile device piracy, camcording piracy, retail piracy, optical disc production and pay TV theft”.

The report stated that PAPT provided support for industry enforcement on request but complained that “too few investigations led to arrests and prosecutions”.

In addition, the Intellectual Property Coalition, which represents includes Filipino musicians and publishers, film distributors, software companies, and business groups including the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines put out a statement last week complaining about “stringent rules” on evidence required to prosecute alleged violators.

“As a consequence, police investigations had been often thwarted at the prosecutor level, thereby laying to waste countless hours and huge resources incurred for surveillance, evidence gathering, and other investigative efforts,” the group said in a statement.