Intellectual Property Rights

Excerpt from STS Training 2017 at Ateneo de Manila University

Intellectual Property (IP)
- Refers to creations of the mind
such as;
Inventions (could be ideas)
Literary works
Artistic works
Designs
Symbols
Names
Images used in commerce
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
• Are like any other property right
• Allow creators to benefit from their own work or investment in a
creation – World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Aesthetic effects
Patents Industrial Literary works, films, music,
Trademarks copyrights artistic works, architectural
Industrial design property design, performances, recordings
 Patents
• Exclusive rights granted to
inventors over the manufacture,
use & marketing of their invention
• Inventor is required to reveal his
invention (but kept a secret while
patent is in effect), in return he is
granted the exclusive right to
produce and market the fruits of
his invention

https://www.alsuwaidifts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Industrial-Design-Philippines.jpg
 • Coffee cup sleeves-patented
What is an invention?
It is a product or process that
provides a new way of doing
something, or that offers a
new technical solution to a
problem
 Practical
 Novel
 Inventive step
 ‘patentable’

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Patent No. 223, Patent No. Patent No. 2,
5, 184, 830 032, 695
898
• Electric Compact • Pocket
hand-held lighter,
Lamp by Zippo
T.H. video game
Edison system
• 1880 (game boy)
by
Nintendo,
1993
Flowsheet to process coconut
Phil Pat # 0000001
Pablo Robledano & Eduardo Ruiz de
Luzuriaga
Filed June 22, 1948 then approved by Sept
of the same year
Can you patent a living organism?
• US Patent #4,736,866
• April 13, 1988
• Harvard University
• Genetically altered mouse used
as model for studying how genes
contribute to breast cancer
Patent Limitations

• Territory
(Philippines)
• Scope/claims
• Time (20 years from
the filing/granting
date)
Smartphone patent wars

The war…
• Began when Samsung launched
its Galaxy devices
• Apple believes that the copying
is pervasive, that they appear to
be actual apple products
Philippine patent applications
CONTENTS OF THE SPECIFICATION
•       1. Title of the Invention
•       2. Abstract of the Disclosure
•       3. Background of the Invention
•       4. Summary of the Invention
•       5. Brief Description of the
Drawings
•       6. Detailed Description
•       7. Claim/s
 Copyright

• Exclusive rights granted by • First recognition in the

governments to authors & Convention for the Protection of
composers over the printing and Literary and Artistic Works
marketing of their literary works signed at Berne, Switzerland on
or musical compositions September 9, 1886
• Berne Convention
Why protect copyright? ‘the state shall protect
and secure the exclusive
rights of scientists,
inventors, artists and
other gifted citizens to
their IP and creations,
particularly when
beneficial to the people,
for such period as maybe
provided by law’
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
•Sec. 3. Art. XIV 1987
Constitution
Who owns the
copyright?
• Literary and artistic works: AUTHOR
• Works of joint authorship: CO-AUTHOR & MAIN
AUTHOR
• Joint works, separable parts: AUTHOR OF THE PART
• Work not part of a regular duties: EMPLOYEE
• Work part of regular duty: EMPLOYER
• Commissioned works: CREATOR
• Audiovisual works: PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, ETC
• Letters: WRITER
 A can of coke is protected by no less than 10 federal trademark registrations. The
registrations cover both words and design

https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjVjPKJ6LHeAhXHxrwKHWY2CEYQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trademarkologist.com%2F2013%2F11%2Fbuild-your-brand-
using-frequent-filer-lessons-from-coca-cola%2F&psig=AOvVaw2iOwtwo7foa9BpRfS4D9Dz&ust=1541114239447807
Plagiarism
• To steal & pass off (the ideas or words of e.g
another) as one’s own
• To use (another’s production) without
Solis vs. Smith
crediting the source Picture submitted to an international competition,
• To commit literary theft claiming a picture of a boy with seaweeds draped
on his head,
• To present as new and original an idea or
that turned out to be a Brazilian boy whose picture
product derived from an existing source was posted in the internet
• In other words, plagiarism is an act of
fraud
• It involved intentional both stealing
someone’s else’s work & lying about
afterward
Brand & Trademark
• Brand (may not have a • Trademark
trademark) • Legal protection given to a brand
• A distinguishing symbol, mark,
logo, name, word, sentence, or a
combination of these items that
companies use to distinguish
their product from others in the
market
Infringements

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• Copyright infringement is the use of works protected

by copyright law without permission, infringing certain
exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as
the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform
the protected work, or to make derivative works. 
Wikipedia
IPR enforcement problems
• Industrial productions have
moved to developing nations
1. Governments have no capability
to strictly enforce IPR rules or
2. May deliberately lax in
enforcing them
IPR enforcement problems
1. Developments I technology
have made the enforcement of
copyright laws complicated &
difficult
2. Ease of storage, reproduction
and dissemination (digitization &
rapid production without
significant quality loss)
Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPs 1994)
• Negotiated by World Trade
Organization (WTO) nations in the
Uruguay Round of the General
Agreement Tariffs & Trade (GATT)
Discontentment with present IPR rules
e.g patent trolling
1. TRIPs would hinder the
transfer of technology from
the industrial countries to IP-
poor nations and offers no
protection to LDCs (least
developed countries=poor)
from the abusive behavior of
corporations who own the IPs
- The issue of ‘sleeper-patents’
and patent-trolling
Discontentment with present IPR rules
2. TRIPs provisions would allow
multinational corporations to
patent indigenous knowledge and
practices
- LDCs want a revised TRIPs which
recognizes IPR protection over
traditional knowledge and culture
of users and not to private
corporations or individuals
Discontentment
with present
IPR rules
TRIPs is too lax so that the
patenting of plants, animals and
other organisms is prevented
 • Bioprospecting • Biopiracy – a
– the search for practice of
unauthorized use
Bioprospecting traditional/indig of
and Biopiracy enous traditional/indigen
knowledge to ous knowledge for
be used for profit and with
little or no
commercial compensation or
purposes recognition to the
indigenous people
from where the
knowledge
originated
Biopiracy in the Philippines: Why we have
everything to lose
• Dr. Baldomero Olivera – Filipino
scientist studied cone snail
• Discovered non-addictive
painkiller Zicotonide in the
70s
• Asked the biotech company
to donate some of the
proceeds from the drug to
the Phil. - NADA
• Dr. Lourdes Cruz, Olivera’s partner
of the study, said that the study
took around 20 years, did not have
a patent
• So even if patented, in 20 years, it
would have lapsed
• Done in the Philippines but
patented elsewhere
• nata de coco. ilang-ilang perfume,
banaba derived anti-diabetic drug,
ampalaya and eggplant
 IPR and Technology
• Industrialized country lead
the drive for IPR protections
but its enforcement is
threatened by advances in
technology
• Seldom does technology
follow the dictates of the
law: it is the law that adapts
to technological progress
IPR & economic development
• IPR is an instrument for
maximizing profit
• At the national level, IPR is also
used as an instrument of
economic and trade policies
• However, LDCs lack trained
human resources for effective
transfer of technology
• Industrial giants don’t easily
agree to technology transfer
IPR & public health
Doha declaration of 2001
• Nothing in the TRIPs agreement shall
prevent members from taking measures to
protect public health
A member of WTO:
• May issue compulsory licenses to the other
companies to manufacture drugs,
regardless of the patent held by
pharmaceutical companies, if public health
dictates
• May also authorize parallel importation of
drugs from other sources of existing
patents
Patent pooling for HIV treatment
• Patent pool –one patent shop
• Fair royalty payments
• Easier innovations
• South Africa overturned patent
of GSK
• Pfizer vs Indian products that
BFAD allowed
https://sciencespeaksblog.org/2013/04/22/how-the-medicines-patent-pool-expands-access-to-live-saving-hiv-
treatment/
IPR & innovation
IPR protection is
supposed to
encourage research
& development,
thereby promotes
innovation
 Alternative IPR protection – ‘copyleft’ protection

• For computer software, documents, E.g

music & art
• Wikipedia
• The author grants everyone the right
to distribute his work freely, and to • TED Talk ideas worth sharing
modify his work, but with the • MITOpenCourseWare
provision that the derived work will
not have more restrictive copyright • Ubontu
protection that the original one
• The source code must be freely
available under the so called ‘open
source’ system

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