INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE

PHILIPPINES
Brief Background
The 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] in 1980. It was a signatory to a number of
significant multilateral international agreements and treaties for the
protection and promotion of intellectual property rights.

The first laws protecting intellectual property rights were enacted in the
Philippines in 1947, to wit:

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

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 and False Marking and Providing
Remedies Against the Same, and for other Purposes”.

Subsequent to the foregoing, additional laws were enacted and issuances

promulgated to further promote and protect intellectual property rights,
to wit:

Republic Act No. 422 transferring the examination of copyright

applications to the Bureau of Public Libraries.

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 reciprocity and
recognition of their priority rights; establishing, in the case of
trademarks, principal and supplemental as well as interference
proceedings; extending protection of utility models and industrial
designs under the patent system; and providing, in the case of trademark
registration, for reciprocity arrangement with other countries.

Republic Act No. 5434 providing for a uniform procedure for appeals
from the decision of quasi-judicial officers including the Director of
Patents.

Administrative Order No. 94 [November 20, 1967] creating a

committee to review the Philippine patent system and recommend
amendatory laws to further upgrade it.

Presidential Decree No. 721 creating the Legal Services Division and
the Research and Information Division in the Philippine Patent Office.
Subsequently, major reorganization of the various 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.

Presidential Decree No. 1263 amending Republic Acts Nos. 165 and
166, granting authority to the 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 the
Philippine 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 to one hundred
twenty [120] daysfrom the date the petition is filed in cases where the
compulsory license applied for is on a patented product or process
involving any project approved by the Board of Investments [BOI].

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 and Technology Transfer [BPTTT].

Executive Order No. 60 was issued in 1993 creating the Inter-Agency

Committee on Intellectual Property Rights [IAC-IPR] under the Office of
the President of the Philippines.

Department Administrative Orders Nos. 5 and 6 introduced

amendments to the Rules of Practice in Patent and Trademark Cases and
the Rules of Procedures of the Technology Transfer Registry effective on
March 15, 1993.

Republic Act No. 8293 otherwise known as the Intellectual Property

Code of the Philippines was 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 the Philippines 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 Patents and Trademarks was officially launched thereby
strengthening the capability of Industrial Property Offices in ASEAN to
administer their respective patents and trademarks systems and to
further 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 through the assistance of the European Commission.
Made available were 2 CD-ROM work stations and a complete set of
ESPACE CD-ROM containing the abstracts, first page and full text of the
applications filed from 1988 to 1994 with the European Patent Office.

In 1995, special courts were designated by the Philippine Supreme Court

to hear cases involving intellectual property rights.