As quarantine rules ease, intellectual property filings rise

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said applications for intellectual property (IP) registrations had increased by 4.4 percent in the first nine months of 2022 from the previous year amid the easing of pandemic-related restrictions.

IPOPHL said that filings for trademarks, patents, utility models (UMs) and industrial designs (IDs) had reached 36,709 compared with 35,172 during the same period in 2021.

“The latest figures show impressive recovery in IP filings as we are on track to exceed the prepandemic volume,” IPOHL director general Rowel Barba said, citing the Philippine economy’s average growth of 7.8 percent in the first nine months. The easing of quarantine restrictions had driven the increase in economic activities, he said.

Barba expressed confidence that the momentum would be sustained during the rest of the year, citing that the IPOPHL had been exceeding various targets on IP awareness, such as in term of the number of participants and learning events held.

Trademark filings led the growth this year, increasing by 5.6 percent with 31,665 applications.
Resident trademark filers accounted for 62 percent, equivalent to 19,762 filings.

Patent filings climbed 2.3 percent to 3,116 applications, with non-residents contributing 90 percent, or 2,807, of the total.

Filing for Industrial designs (ID), which protect the unique appearance of a product, inched up 1 percent to 923, with non-residents accounting for a 56-percent share.

In contrast to the three segments, filings for UMs, which provide patent-like protection at a shorter duration and with a less rigorous application process, contracted by 17.2 percent to 1,005 applications.
UM filers who are residents made up 96 percent of total, equivalent to 960 filings.

Bulk of trademark filings were in pharmaceuticals, health and cosmetics, comprising 19 percent of overall applications for this type of IP. This was followed by trademark filings for agricultural products and services with 16.8 percent, while filings for scientific research, information and communication technology accounted for 14.5 percent.

Meanwhile, patent filings were concentrated mainly in pharmaceuticals, organic fine chemistry, and biotechnology, comprising 29 percent, 11.6 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively.

In ID applications, means of transport or hoisting contributed the most, accounting for 18.7 percent. Packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods followed with 9.1 percent and furnishing with 8.4 percent.

For UM applications, the IPOPHL said that most were in food chemistry, comprising 46.8 percent. Other big contributors were other special machines, with 9.1 percent and IT methods for management, with 4.4 percent.

For copyright registrations, filings jumped 69.1 percent to 2,602, mostly driven by applications for books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels and other writings (29 percent share); other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works (27.8 percent); and drawings, paintings, architectural works, sculpture, engraving, prints, lithography or other works of art, models or designs for works of art (9.3 percent).