THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said on Monday that it will offer incentives to attract more applications to register green technology-related intellectual property (IP).
At a briefing for National IP Month (NIPM), IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said the regulator is launching the Green Technology Incentive Program to register technologies that promise sustainable solutions.
“Through this new initiative, we hope to encourage inventors to develop green and sustainable technologies in climate change adaptation, alternative energy production, transportation, agriculture, forestry, emission mitigation, energy conversion, solid waste management, and water and wastewater management,” Mr. Barba said.
“The program will mainly involve a waiver of fees and a prioritized examination for eligible patents, utility models, and industrial design applications. We are in the process of finalizing the guidelines and workflow, and we hope to launch this green program in the middle of 2024,” he added.
Mr. Barba said the NIPM this year hopes to tie IP to sustainable development goals (SDGs), noting that the Philippines has made slow progress in achieving the SDG 2030 targets.
Citing a report from the United Nations, Mr. Barba said that zero progress was recorded in more than 30% of the measurable targets, while some have even regressed to pre-2015 levels, the year when the SDG 2030 was adopted.
“As we cross beyond the midpoint to the deadline, we find that only 15% of the targets are making progress. None of them are halfway towards the desired results,” he added.
Ann N. Edillon, IPOPHL Bureau of Patents director, said that under the proposed program, IPOPHL will waive the fees for filing and first publication, which amount to P4,000 to P5,000.
“That’s still a significant help to startups and business owners. Especially if you can imagine if they have a lot of programs or if they have a lot of innovative creations or inventions,” Ms. Edillon said.
However, she said the program will limit how many applicants can avail of the incentives in order to not overwhelm the system.
“There’s always going to be a cap. And then when we feel that the program is a success and there is a clamor for more, then it’s very easy to have our management renew it,” she added.
Mr. Barba said the incentive system aims to increase the number of green technology applications, which only account for less than 1% of filings.
“So what we want is to incentivize our inventors and creators to create concepts or products that promote green technology,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
