By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
The number of applications filed for the protection of intellectual rights (IP) rose 15 percent in 2018, reflecting the continued growth of the local creative and scientific economy and awareness for protection of this important tool of trade, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said.
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According to IPOPHL Director-General Josephine R. Santiago, filings for patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, and copyright deposits in 2018 amounted to 44,461, exhibiting a growth of 15 percent over 2017’s 38,801 applications. This brings the five-year average growth rate of IP filings to 7 percent.
“We are now seeing the results of our deliberate move for closer engagement with the academe, businesses and industry in regions outside of Metro Manila. In 2018 alone, we opened three intellectual property satellite offices (IPSOs) in Dumaguete, Naga and Zamboanga to reach out to IP creators there,” Santiago said.
Increased filings at both the local and global level, not only means increased productivity of the scientific and creative communities but also reflects a rising recognition of the economic added-value of intellectual property in commercial activity and in research & development.
“This signifies that more and more people are utilizing IP to enhance competitiveness in business, and as an incentive to make commercially-viable technology,” the agency head added.
Another contributing factor to this growth is IPOPHL’s deployment in 2018 of its full suite of online filing systems for trademarks, invention, utility models and industrial design, allowing easier filing for applicants.
Notably, data shows that online IP filings jumped from 7,645 (across all IP types, except copyright deposits) in 2017 to 10, 346 last year or an increase of 35 percent year-on-year. Online filings have steadily been growing since the first online facilities were launched in 2016.
As to per type of IP, the year-on-year filings growth rate again is led by utility model registering a 54 percent growth or from 1,380 in 2017 to 2,124 in 2018. Keeping to the historical precedence, majority of the UMs filed in 2018 were in the field of food chemistry / food technology, indicating that the innovation direction of local innovators is still towards foodstuffs and agricultural goods.
IPOPHL Logo
According to IPOPHL Director-General Josephine R. Santiago, filings for patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, and copyright deposits in 2018 amounted to 44,461, exhibiting a growth of 15 percent over 2017’s 38,801 applications. This brings the five-year average growth rate of IP filings to 7 percent.
“We are now seeing the results of our deliberate move for closer engagement with the academe, businesses and industry in regions outside of Metro Manila. In 2018 alone, we opened three intellectual property satellite offices (IPSOs) in Dumaguete, Naga and Zamboanga to reach out to IP creators there,” Santiago said.
Increased filings at both the local and global level, not only means increased productivity of the scientific and creative communities but also reflects a rising recognition of the economic added-value of intellectual property in commercial activity and in research & development.
“This signifies that more and more people are utilizing IP to enhance competitiveness in business, and as an incentive to make commercially-viable technology,” the agency head added.
Another contributing factor to this growth is IPOPHL’s deployment in 2018 of its full suite of online filing systems for trademarks, invention, utility models and industrial design, allowing easier filing for applicants.
Notably, data shows that online IP filings jumped from 7,645 (across all IP types, except copyright deposits) in 2017 to 10, 346 last year or an increase of 35 percent year-on-year. Online filings have steadily been growing since the first online facilities were launched in 2016.
As to per type of IP, the year-on-year filings growth rate again is led by utility model registering a 54 percent growth or from 1,380 in 2017 to 2,124 in 2018. Keeping to the historical precedence, majority of the UMs filed in 2018 were in the field of food chemistry / food technology, indicating that the innovation direction of local innovators is still towards foodstuffs and agricultural goods.