Protecting Filipino Pride: Increasing awareness on Intellectual Property Rights

Before anything else, I would like to request for your time to reflect on these questions?
What comes to your mind when you hear the words “Patent”, “copyright” (show the
word in slides)
How knowledgeable are you on Intellectual Property Rights? (show the word in slides)
How interested are you when it comes to Filipino inventions, innovations, arts and
publications? (show pictures of cool inventions, show yoyo and karaoke).

Pause….

Filipinos are naturally gifted and talented especially in innovating and creating novel
products for community benefit, ease of workload, environmental adaptation or solutions
to societal problems. Also in writing books, poems, songs and making vlogs or content
for videos for entertainment. They have the passion for fun and discovery which can
make the country more globally competitive through market-driven innovations.

Did you know that if we register our concept, prototype products, articles, arts, or any
inventions, have them patented or protected, not only that we can bring credits to
ourselves but also, we can bring pride to Filipinos, boost our own economy, and protect
our mother nature as well? It has numerous good intentions that you can never imagine.

Also, with the huge growth of IP globally in this information age, the importance of
claiming rights to these creations against counterfeiting, piracy, and plagiarism must
also be enforced. If only we can support our own products, and promote our own
technologies then we can help our country to be more competitive, profitable (other
term for this please), and develop sustainably.

Government strategy: The government with the help of DOST TAPI, created
campaigns to increase IP awareness -> “Powering Generation of Thinkers’’

As such, the government through the Department of Science and Technology (DOST),
pushed forward the 'Filipinnovation' (show the word in slides) theme or branding to
support less privileged local inventors, MSMEs owners and inspire the youth in
protecting their intellectual properties.

So what are these IP? (next slide)

An intellectual property (IP) refers to intangible assets or works of mind such as

inventions, literary and artistic works for copyright, industrial design and utility model. 

(showing pictures of examples of each IP type)

State of IP filed applications in the Philippines 7 to 10 years ago (Showing the Map in
the slides)
 In the country, IP submissions usually comes from NCR region which implies that only
few Filipinos are active and aware on intellectual property rights. Moreover, some are
not interested in filing for IP protection because the prosecution is time-consuming and
filing fees are expensive.

  Average Processing Time of Filing Fees Term of Protection

IP Type Registration

Copyright 1 month to 3 months P625 to P750 Author's lifetime + 50

years

Invention 3 to 7 years P6,500 to 20 years

P11,800

Industrial 6 months to 2 years P4,200 to 5 years

Design P6,800

Utility Model 6 months to 2 years P4,200 to 7 years (not

P6,800 renewable)

The government acknowledged this issue and they wish to address this since they see
the potential of investing on Filipino IPs. To raise awareness on the Intellectual Property
Rights in the country, the DOST - Technology Application and Promotion Institute
(DOST-TAPI) established the Intellectual Property Rights Assistance Program
(IPRAP) which provides technical and funding assistance in securing appropriate
intellectual property protection of completed research and development projects
generated or funded by Filipino public and private researchers, innovators, and
technologists. Also, the process of the registration is paper-based and not yet
digitize so the IPOPHL and DOST-TAPI made adaptive measures and started
receiving applications online.
After 7 years:

From 2014 up to present, IP submissions to IPRAP soars which is attributed to the

DOST-TAPI's combined efforts to reach out to more private inventors, digitize its IP
services, and forge better linkage with academe-based researchers through dialogue,
partnerships, and campaigns. Previously, IP submissions were prominent only in NCR
but due to the collaborative efforts of DOST-TAPI with regional offices and state
universities and colleges (SUCs) in disseminating IPRAP services, they were able to
obtain IP applications from other provinces as well. 

Results from the data (Figures)

There is an increasing trend of IP applications by ____% from 2014 to 2019 until the
pandemic happened. Due to the lockdown period and academic break, the government
agencies strive to transform its services digitally to accommodate online filings of IP
applications. Moreover, bulk of applications are copyright type because it is the
cheapest and fairly easy to obtain than patents.
Applicants are categorized into private inventors, business corporations, SUCs, Higher
Education Institutes (HEI), High School, Government agencies, and DOST R&D
Institutes (Internal).
Interestingly, the innovations and inventions of the applicants submitted to IPRAP are
highly concentrated in agriculture,  green innovation and sustainable technology like
biodegradable materials;  food and food processing, and healthcare products for
commercialization; and computer generated systems for public use.
The actual registration and prosecution time of the filed IPs also became faster through
the years. The improved efficiency of DOST- TAPI services and the support provided to
the individual applicants motivated them to produce more ideas, conceptualize models
and prototype products which resulted in the increasing frequency of submission by the
same applicants. This can be seen in the data of the number of submissions made by
an applicant, copyright being the highest count of IP type due to the quick processing of
granting for months only.
(Others ……..to be continued.)

Interesting News:
Last year even though the pandemic surged, the Philippines achieved its highest Global
Innovation Index ranking at 50th among 131 world economies. Among its highest
ranking indicators, utility models by origin was ranked 8th globally, which contributed
significantly in the country’s overall innovation outcome.

Overall value:

If we continue to support and promote our own Technologies and use it for our own
sustainability, not only that we can help the economy but also we can save money (we
don’t have to loan from other countries for gadgets and stuffs if we can make our own
naman)

For government actions and recommendations

CONTINUE raising awareness on IP
CONTINUE financial support to local inventors