Intellectual Property Rights

What is IP?
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

What is IP?
IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.

Copyright
Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings.

Patents
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. Generally speaking, a patent provides the patent owner with the right to decide how - or whether - the invention can be used by others. In exchange for this right, the patent owner makes technical information about the invention publicly available in the published patent document.

Trademarks
A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks date back to ancient times when craftsmen used to put their signature or "mark" on their products.

Industrial Designs
An industrial design constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article. A design may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or of twodimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color.

Geographical Indications

Geographical Indications
Geographical indications and appellations of origin are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin. Most commonly, a geographical indication includes the name of the place of origin of the goods.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Brief Background

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

The Philippine government has made it a State policy to protect and promote intellectual property rights. This policy was enshrined both in the 1973 Constitution which provides that the exclusive right to inventions, writings and artistic creations shall be secured to inventors, authors, and artists for a limited period and in the 1987 Constitution which explicitly mandates that the State shall protect intellectual property.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

The Philippines became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] in 1980. It was a signatory to a number of significant multilateral international agreements and treaties for the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

The first laws protecting intellectual property rights were enacted in the Philippines in 1947, to wit: Republic Act No. 165 otherwise known as An Act Creating a Patent Office, Prescribing its Powers and Duties, Regulating the Issuance of Patents and Appropriating Funds Therefore. Republic Act No. 166 otherwise known as An Act to Provide for the Registration and Protection of Trade Marks, Trade Names and Service Marks, Defining Unfair Competition and False Marking and Providing Remedies Against the Same, and for other Purposes.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Subsequent to the foregoing, additional laws were enacted and issuances promulgated to further promote and protect intellectual property rights, to wit: Republic Act No. 422 transferring the examination of copyright applications to the Bureau of Public Libraries.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Republic Act No. 623 regulating the use of duly stamped or marked bottles, boxes, casks, kegs, barrels, and other similar containers; providing, in the case of foreign applicants, for reciprocity and recognition of their priority rights; establishing, in the case of trademarks, principal and supplemental as well as interference proceedings; extending protection of utility models and industrial designs under the patent system; and providing, in the case of trademark registration, for reciprocity arrangement with other countries.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Republic Act No. 5434 providing for a uniform procedure for appeals from the decision of quasi-judicial officers including the Director of Patents. Administrative Order No. 94 [November 20, 1967] creating a committee to review the Philippine patent system and recommend amendatory laws to further upgrade it.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Presidential Decree No. 721 creating the Legal Services Division and the Research and Information Division in the Philippine Patent Office. Subsequently, major reorganization of the various Divisions was made in the 1980's. The General Organic Chemistry Division and the Chemical Technology Division were merged to form the Chemical Division. The MechanicalElectrical Division was merged with the Mechanical, Design, Utility Model Division and Electrical Division to form the Mechanical and Electrical Examining Division.

 Presidential Decree No. 1263 amending Republic Acts Nos. 165 and 166, granting authority to the Philippine Patent Office to increase its fees and to spend a portion of its income for priority projects; exempting indigent inventors who filed their application for patent through the Philippine Inventor's Commission from all fees charged by the Philippine Patent Office; and shortening the period for thegrant of a compulsory license from one hundred eighty [180] days to one hundred twenty [120] daysfrom the date the petition is filed in cases where the compulsory license applied for is on a patented product or process involving any project approved by the Board of Investments [BOI].

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Executive Order No. 133 [February 27, 1987] merging the Philippine Patent Office with the then Technology Transfer Board thereby creating the Bureau of Patents, Trademarks and Technology Transfer [BPTTT]. Executive Order No. 60 was issued in 1993 creating the Inter-Agency Committee on Intellectual Property Rights [IAC-IPR] under the Office of the President of the Philippines.

Intellectual Property Rights in the Philippines

Department Administrative Orders Nos. 5 and 6 introduced amendments to the Rules of Practice in Patent and Trademark Cases and the Rules of Procedures of the Technology Transfer Registry effective on March 15, 1993.cralaw Republic Act No. 8293 otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines was enacted and signed into law in 1997. It took effect on January 1, 1998.