DTI: Filipino inventors to get legal support on international patenting

The World Economic Forum and the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo) have accepted the Philippines as one of the pilot country members for their new joint initiative called the Inventor Assistance Program (IAP).

The said program would enable Filipino inventors to get free legal advice on international patenting, the Department of Trade and Industry said in a statement Monday.

“I recall as early as 2005, during my term as director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, we already saw the importance of making intellectual property relevant to the economic well-being of the country,” Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said. “(Such a program) would encourage Filipino inventors to bring their technologies to the world.”

The IAP was established by WEF and Wipo to make the IP system more accessible to financially strapped inventors who have potential technologies and concepts.

Qualifying countries, inventors and companies can be accepted as members once they agree to the terms drawn up for the IAP, which started as a pilot program in Colombia last year.

Wipo deputy director general John Sandage noted the Philippines was among the first three countries qualified to become a member of the IAP. The two other member countries are Colombia and Morocco.

Sandage, who paid a courtesy call to Cristobal last week, explained that inventors from countries that are part of the IAP would be given free legal advice from patent attorneys to protect their inventions. This would save inventors from having to pay exorbitant fees related to the filing of patent applications.

The IAP, Sandage added, would also assist inventors or small companies by referring them to patent attorneys.