Gov’t wants hike in intellectual property registration in provinces

The government wants to increase the number of intellectual property (IP) filings outside Metro Manila by half this year, noting that smaller business players would benefit from securing their IP rights.

In a statement on Friday, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said they were targeting a 50-percent growth in the number of IP filings in provinces.

Trademark, copyright, and patents account for most of the filings registered in the provinces, IPOPHL said. The agency wants to grow the number of filings this year at a rate that would outpace its average from 2013 to 2017.

If and when achieved, this means the number of filings for this year would grow more than three times faster than the past five years, which saw an annual growth of 14 percent.

A 50 percent growth would translate to total IP filings target from the provinces at 5,159 for 2018, coming from IP filings from the countryside at 3,439 in 2017, IPOPHL said.

In line with this, IPOPHL would open two more intellectual property satellite offices (IPSOs) this year: one in Dumaguete, to be launched later this month, and another in Zamboanga, in the second semester.

Director General Josephine Santiago said the agency wants the public, especially the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to know that “trademark is relevant to their business.”

She said that this is part of the “overarching objective in spreading the presence” of the agency across the country, which also means bringing their services to MSMEs in the countryside.

There are 11 IPSOs located in the offices of the Department of Trade and industry, such as in Davao, Baguio, General Santos, and Pampanga.

On the total IP filings from the countryside in 2017, trademarks took 59 percent or 2,025; copyright deposits, 27 percent, or 933 filings, and patents at 481, or 14 percent.

Small businesses most often apply for trademarks for their product branding, while educational and research institutions, and individual inventors make use patents and utility models.