PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Katrina Doble, Danielle Francesca San Pedro, Maria Patricia Cruz and Kyle Gino Salazar, Villaraza & Angangco
A straightforward application (no office actions or oppositions) typically registers within six months, with fees of around USD115 per class. Trade Mark Applicants Applications can be filed by individuals or juridi - cal entities. Non-residents must appoint a Phil - ippine-based representative. Applications may be signed by the applicant, joint owners or an authorised agent/representative, as required. 4.5 Use in Commerce Prior to Registration An applicant is not required to use the mark in commerce before the registration is issued. 4.6 Consideration of Prior Rights in Registration The Philippines grants priority rights to foreign applicants under the Paris Convention. There - fore, a Philippine trade mark application can benefit from the earlier filing date of a foreign application. However, the mark cannot be reg - istered in the Philippines until it has been regis - tered in the applicant’s home country. 4.7 Revocation, Change, Amendment or Correction of an Application A trade mark application may be amended to correct formalities and overcome objections made by the examiner, or for other reasons aris - ing in the course of examination. Amendments pertaining to the reproduction of the mark will not be permitted if the mark or the nature of the mark is substantially altered. Amendment by the addition of goods and/or services related to those originally filed and which fall under the same class may be allowed. Amendment by deletion is likewise allowed.
In every amendment, the exact word or words to be stricken out or inserted must be specified, and the precise point where the erasure or inser - tion is to be made must be indicated. 4.8 Dividing a Trade Mark Application The IP Code allows the creation of “divisional applications”. This is typically done when an application covering multiple classes meets objections to specific classes or goods/ser - vices and the applicant needs to separate the problematic parts from the rest to expedite their registration. The applicant can distribute the classes from the original application into different divisional appli - cations, and a single class can be divided into multiple applications by paying the correspond - ing fees. The request for division must be made before the application is registered. Once a request for division is submitted along with the necessary payment, the IPOPHL will assign new application numbers to the divisional applications, but the filing date for the divisional applications will remain the same as the original. In cases where a multi-class application is based on a foreign application or registration, the appli - cant may divide the application into two parts – one covering goods/services eligible for conven - tion priority and another covering the remaining goods/services. Only the divisional application related to the foreign registration can retain the convention priority. 4.9 Incorrect Information in an Application The amendment of incorrect information is with - in the jurisdiction of the trade mark examiner. If the examiner identifies reasonable grounds to question the accuracy of any part of the applica -
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