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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Brief BackgroundThe 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.

The Philippines became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] in1980. It was a signatory to a number of significant multilateralinternational agreements andtreatiesfor the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights.The first laws protecting intellectual property rights were enacted in the Philippines in 1947, towit:

1. Republic Act No. 165 otherwise known as An Act Creating a Patent Office, Prescribing itsPowers and Duties, Regulating the Issuance of Patents and Appropriating Funds Therefor.

2. 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 andFalse Marking and Providing Remedies Against the Same, and for other Purposes.

Subsequent to the foregoing, additional laws were enacted and issuances promulgated to furtherpromote and protect intellectual property rights, to wit:

3. Republic Act No. 422 transferring the examination of copyright applications to the Bureau ofPublic Libraries.4. 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 reciprocityand recognition of their priority rights; establishing, in the case of trademarks, principal and

supplemental as well as interference proceedings; extending protection of utility models andindustrial designs under the patent system; and providing, in the case of trademark registration,for reciprocity arrangement with other countries.5. Republic Act No. 5434 providing for a uniform procedure for appeals from the decision ofquasi-judicial officers including the Director of Patents.

6.Administrative Order No. 94 [November 20, 1967] creating a committee to review thePhilippine patent system and recommend amendatory laws to further upgrade it.7. Presidential Decree No. 721 creating the Legal Services Division and the Research andInformation Division in the Philippine Patent Office. Subsequently, major reorganization of thevarious Divisions was made in the 1980's. The General Organic Chemistry Division and the

ChemicalTechnology Division were merged to form the Chemical Division. The Mechanical-Electrical Divisionwas merged with the Mechanical, Design, Utility Model Division and

Electrical Division to form the Mechanical and Electrical Examining Division.8. Presidential Decree No. 1263 amending Republic Acts Nos. 165 and 166, granting authority tothe 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 thePhilippine 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 toone hundred twenty [120] daysfrom the date the petition is filed in cases where the compulsorylicense applied for is on a patented product or process involving any project approved by theBoard of Investments [BOI].9. 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 andTechnology Transfer [BPTTT].

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10. Executive Order No. 60 was issued in 1993 creating the Inter-Agency Committee onIntellectual Property Rights [IAC-IPR] under the Office of the President of the Philippines.

11. Department Administrative Orders Nos. 5 and 6 introduced amendments to the Rules ofPractice in Patent and Trademark Cases and the Rules of Procedures of the Technology TransferRegistry effective on March 15, 1993.cralaw12. Republic Act No. 8293 otherwise known as theIntellectual Property Code of the

Philippineswas enacted and signed into law in 1997. It took effect on January 1, 1998.

OTHER SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS

On March 8, 1988, the first issue of the BPTTT Official Gazette was launched.In 1992, the Philippine Association of Certified Patent Agents [PACPA] was incorporated thereby

recognizing and promoting the patent agent profession in the Philippines.In the same year, the CD-ROM Version of the bibliographic data of registered Philippine patents

was introduced.In 1993, the Kantor-Navarro Agreement was signed as a result of the negotiations between thePhilippines and the United States for the purpose of delisting the Philippines from the Priority

Watch List of Countries covered by the Super 301 List under the United States Trade Act.

In October of the same year, the Philippine component of the EC-ASEAN Programme on Patentsand Trademarks was officially launched thereby strengthening the capability of IndustrialProperty Offices in ASEAN to administer their respective patents and trademarks systems and tofurther facilitate the exchange of patent information among ASEAN members. Under this

program, a Patent Documentation Center was established in Cebu in 1994.In 1994, the patent and trademark search and examination procedures were modernized throughthe assistance of the European Commission. Made available were 2 CD-ROM work stations anda complete set of ESPACE CD-ROM containing the abstracts, first page and full text of theapplications filed from 1988 to 1994 with the European Patent Office.cralaw

In 1995, special courts were designated by the Philippine Supreme Court to hear cases involvingintellectual property rights.

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