PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Susan D. Villanueva, Patricia A. O. Bunye, Rowanie A. Nakan and Ritz Angelica R. Alejandro, Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia
1. Intellectual Property Rights and Granting Procedure 1.1 Types of Intellectual Property Rights Under the Philippine legal system, inventions are granted statutory protection through pat- ents, utility models, and industrial designs. Trade secrets are also entitled to protection. These protections are primarily based on the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, as amended (IP Code), along with its implementing rules and regulations. The IP Code was further amended by the following laws: • Republic Act (RA) No 9150 or An Act Provid- ing for Protection of Layout-Designs (Topog- raphies) of Integrated Circuits; • RA No 9502 or An Act Providing for Cheaper and Quality Medicines; and • RA No 10372 or An Act Amending Certain Provisions of RA No 8293. Case law further expounds on the protection granted by statutory law to inventions. The Philippines is also a member of several IP treaties, which serve as bases for the protection of inventions, including, among others: • the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT); • the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; and • the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. 1.2 Grant Procedure Patent Patent applications may be filed by direct appli- cation or via the PCT national phase entry route.
Direct application (which may be with claim of priority under the Paris Convention) To obtain a patent right to an invention, a pat- ent application must be filed with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). A patent application shall first go through a for- mality examination. Thereafter, the application shall undergo classification and search to deter- mine the prior art. After 18 months from filing, the application shall be published in the IPOPHL E-Gazette. The written request for substantive examination must be filed either at the time of filing of the application or within six months from the date of publication. During substantive examination, the patent examiner will assess whether the appli- cation meets the requirements of patentability. If the requirements are met, the IPOPHL shall grant the patent and issue the corresponding certificate of letters patent. The grant of the pat- ent shall be published in the IPOPHL E-Gazette within six months upon grant. PCT national phase entry (which may be with claim of priority under the Paris Convention) The request for national phase entry must be made within 30 months (with a grace period of one month) from the earliest priority date or international filing date of the international appli- cation. Upon filing the application, it will undergo a for- mality examination. Thereafter, a national phase entry application report shall be issued, acknowl- edging the entry into the Philippine national phase of the subject application and according the same a domestic application number and a national phase entry date.
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