[MSN] A bill defining the crime of art forgery has been filed at the House of Representatives.

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House bill vs art forgery filed

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 11:50am (Mla time) 07/26/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- A bill defining the crime of art forgery has been filed at the House of Representatives.

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara filed House Bill 176 “to erase the vagueness, misinterpretation and loopholes that have plagued cases of art forgeries for years.”

“We have recently witnessed controversial, even sensational cases of art forgeries. Since art belongs to the realm, which is within the purview of what we call intellectual property, theft of art is one of the most difficult to prosecute or even ascertain,” Angara said.

And so to give more exacting definitions to this crime, Angara initiated the filing of the measure known as “An Act defining the crime of art forgery, providing penalties thereof and creating the art authentication board and for other purposes.”

Under the bill, art forgeries are defined as “affixing or causing to appear or usurped or forged signature or sign on any work of fine art; counterfeiting or imitating any original signature or sign, with intent to deceive the public or the buyer, as to the authorship of a work art; selling or circulating any work of fine art bearing forged or usurped signatures or signs; and imitating or reproducing any work of fine art with intent to deceive the public or the buyer as to the authenticity of the work.”

“Any person who commits any of the acts enumerated shall be punished with imprisonment of not less than six years or not more than 12 years and a fine of not less than P5,000 or more than P50,000,” the bill said.

The measure also proposes the creation of the Art Authentication Board, which would verify and certify as original any work of fine art submitted to it for authentication.

A P5 million annual allocation of the Board from the budget of the Office of the President has been also proposed in the bill.

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