‘Juan for the World’ Program launched to help MSMEs  

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has launched its “Juan for the World” Program (JFTW) to make it cheaper for 100 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to file for international trademark protection under the Madrid Protocol.

The Madrid Protocol, created by the Madrid Union, is currently enforced by 109 member-countries. It allows a single, low-cost application for trademark registration in any or all 125 countries, which together represent over 80 percent of global trade, IPOPHL said.

“This program provides big savings for MSMEs who are burdened by the overall Madrid Protocol registration fees but would like to protect their marks internationally. We hear stories of local MSME brands being copied in other countries and they feel defeated. With this program, we can protect Filipino brands in several major markets in the world,” said Antonio Ros Jesus, director of the Bureau of Trademark (BOT).

“More importantly, aside from international trademark registration, the JFTW Program, through private and public sector partners, will provide beneficiaries with financial and technical business assistance, such as in marketing, management and many more. This makes JFTW the ultimate trademark incentive package to promote Philippine MSMEs’ global expansion,” he added.

From the time the Philippines acceded to the protocol in 2012 up to 2020, IPOPHL said in a statement that it had recorded some 399 resident registrations under the international filing system. Of this, only 154 or 39 percent are “small entities.”

The JFTW Program, for its part, wants to encourage more MSMEs to apply.