THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said it is projecting a stretch growth target of 10% in IP filings for 2023.
“We’re targeting 10%,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said during a briefing in Taguig City last week.
“We would like to believe that with all the programs especially on IP awareness and all the programs we have… we always want to target a high number,” he added.
IP applications received by the IPOPHL were at a record 48,259 in 2022, up 3.7% from a year earlier. The previous record was 47,328 in 2019.
According to Mr. Barba, the IPOPHL has averaged 4% to 5% growth in filings since it was created in January 1998, except for 2020, where results were dampened by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Actually, we’d be happy with 5% growth again this year. But internally, we want to target a higher growth rate. Hopefully, we can achieve 10%,” Mr. Barba said.
Some of the programs offered by the IPOPHL include the Juana Patent and Juana Design Protection incentive program that seeks to help women inventors, and the Juana Mark a Mark registration incentive program to attract more trademark registrations.
Mr. Barba added that the IPOPHL seeks to accompany the Board of Investments during their international investment missions to boost IP filings in the Philippines.
“We also want to discuss the IP in the Philippines and to assure investors that we have a robust and transparent IP system in the country,” he added.
Separately, Mr. Barba said that the IPOPHL’s work plan includes the removal of the Greenhills Shopping Center from the list of notorious counterfeiting and piracy centers.
He added that the other targeted establishments are Cartimar Shopping Center in Pasay City and Baclaran in Parañaque City.
“We’re just finalizing the work program and hopefully we will be able to meet with the mayors of San Juan and Manila and come up with a plan on how we will solve this problem,” Mr. Barba said.
In February, the United States Trade Representative cited Greenhills in its 2022 Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy report, saying that the establishment reportedly sells counterfeit goods such as electronics, perfumes, watches, shoes, accessories, and fashion items. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
