When COVID-19 pandemic struck businesses worldwide, social media channels served as saving grace for entrepreneurs and content creators to survive. But as much as it enabled legitimate users to market and sell their products, social media platforms also widened opportunities for counterfeiters and online pirates.
At the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), counterfeiting and piracy complaints from intellectual property (IP) rights holders and reports from the concerned public surged to a record high of 121 in 2020, as reported by IPOPHL in its website. This exceeds the 2016 to 2019 total received.
You may be surprised at how many aspects of business can be protected when the entrepreneur registers with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Name and logo, designs, inventions, works of creative or intellectual effort or trade marks that distinguish the business can all be types of Intellectual Property (IP) that need protection.
Some IP rights are automatically safeguarded by IP law, but there are also other types of legal protection a business owner can apply for.
So what is IP ? Intellectual property refers to intangible creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. Generally, all companies own some form of intellectual property.
But why is this important? Intellectual property rights and registrations allow companies to protect their core business, research and development activities, while creating a stronger negotiating posture for cross-licensing and counterclaims. Intellectual property rights and registrations also allow a company to block competitive products, dissuade potential entrants and clear a technological path for future market share.
Protecting your company is just one of the benefits of registering intellectual property – it also allows you to build value. Intellectual property is counted as an asset when determining the value of a company and can even be used as collateral for a loan.
Do you have an innovation that’s new, inventive, and can be used in industry? You can protect it through patent.
Is your innovation new and useful in industry but may not be inventive enough? This can still be protected as a utility model. Find out how to apply for patent protection of a utility model.
Are you in the field of visual design and looking to protect your work? New or original designs may be protected as industrial designs. Learn how you can apply for industrial designs at the IPOPHL website.
If you’re a business, distinguishing your goods or services from others may be a competitive advantage. You need a trademark and have this protected.
Copyright Protection for your literary, artistic, or scientific work is automatic from the moment you create it. Registration isn’t necessary but if you want physical proof to show a work is yours, you may want to deposit your copyrighted work with the IPOPHL.
For other services, IPOPHL can also arrange technology, transfer, resolve intellectual property disputes, and create a patent landscape report for your business.
To exploit your IP fully to your advantage, it makes strong business sense to do all you can to secure it. You can then:
• protect it against infringement by others and ultimately defend it in courts for your sole right to use, make, sell or import it
• stop others using, making, selling or importing it without your permission
• earn royalties by licensing it
• exploit it through strategic alliances
• make money by selling it
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Philippines offers a number of online tools which can help you better understand your IP rights.
There are general categories of intellectual property that entrepreneurs should protect:
• Trademarks: Trademarks identify the origin or source of goods and/or services.
• Patents: Patents grant exclusive rights to exploit inventions for a period of time. Novel processes and/or compositions created by a company may rise to the level of patentable inventions that can be registered with the IPOPHL or may constitute trade secrets of the company.
• Copyrights: Copyrights protect original creative expressions or works of authorship. Text, artwork, designs or combinations of these items created by a company are copyrights which can be registered with the IPOPHL.
If the entrepreneur doesn’t protect his/ her company’s intellectual property by conducting the necessary searches or applying for applicable registrations, the company is at much greater risk of infringement, meaning a third party could prevent the entrepreneur from using her/ his intellectual property, such as company name or logo. Alternatively, entrepreneur may not be deemed the owner of the rights in the website or other work product created for his/ her company by independent contractors, even if the work is paid for by the company.
If the opportunity arises to sell the company or seek investment, not owning or having valid and enforceable protection of company intellectual property can negatively affect a transaction.
Currently, the agency is promoting its “Juana make a mark” program. “Juana Make a Mark” is a trademark registration incentive program that allows the eligible Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to have their trademarks registered at a reduced cost.
Through this program, IPOPHL aims to instill the ‘first-mover filing’ mindset amongst MSMEs –that is, to file for trademark registration before establishing a business to ensure availability of and secure exclusivity over the mark before the enterprise incurs expenses related to promoting its goods or services such as for packaging and marketing. Benefits in availing the program include saving as much as P2,400. The “Juana Make a Mark” program waives the payment of the following fees: basic filing fees (PHP1,212),
fees for claim of color (PHP282.00), publication fee (PHP909).
Beneficiary MSMEs of “Juana make a mark” program must pass the following set of eligibility criteria:
• women-led enterprise
• Engaged in business activities considered as priority sectors by DTI or by IPOPHL
• Business is located in areas prone to natural disaster or facing social and economic challenges
• Business names registered by DTI
• With at most two (2) unregistered marks used on goods and services
• No more than five (5) employees
• Engaged in business for at least one (1) year or with limited financial capability or other similar conditions indicating inadequate financial capacity
Priority sectors for “Juana make a mark” program are:
• Agri-business: food and resource-based processing
• Aerospace parts
• Automotive ang auto spareparts
• Chemicals
• Electronic manufacturing and semi-conductor manufacturing services
• Construction
• Design-oriented furniture and garments
• Shipbuilding (RORO, small or medium-sized vessels)
• IT and Business Process Management
• Tool and Die
• Tourism
• Transport and Logistics
For those interested to avail of benefits under the “Juana make a mark” program, fill out the Trademark Registration Incentive Package for Waiver of Fees and Trademark Application Form found at IPOPHL website. Also, submit the form and all required attachments at any DTI business office. Secure DTI endorsement of application to IPOPHL. Submit the application to the Intellectual Property Satellite Officer. For more information and clarification, call (02) 236 6300 local 8602 or send an email to ipso@ipophil.gov.ph
One advice I would give any small company just starting its business is to invest in intellectual property on the front end. This is a good IP registration is a good move for new business owners.
Visit IPOPHL, the government agency mandated to administer and implement State policies on intellectual property (IP) to strengthen the protection of IP rights in the Philippines through its website https://www.ipophil.gov.ph/
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