PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Susan D. Villanueva, Patricia A. O. Bunye, Rowanie A. Nakan and Ritz Angelica R. Alejandro, Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia
1.7 Third-Party Rights to Participate in Grant Proceedings For patents, any individual may submit observa- tions in writing on the patentability of inventions within six months from their first publication date, or from the publication date of a PCT national phase entry application. All observations shall be communicated to the applicant who may com- ment on the same within 30 days from the mail- ing date of the communication. Interested par- ties may request a conference with the IPOPHL for a better understanding of the application and patent system. For utility model and industrial design applica- tions, any person may present written adverse information regarding their registrability within one month from their publication date. Similarly, interested parties may request a conference with the IPOPHL. After the conference, parties may file supplemental adverse information to include any new information. All adverse information and comments are relayed to the applicant, who can respond within 30 days of the communication date. 1.8 Remedies Against Refusal to Grant an Intellectual Property Right After an adverse action by the examiner, the applicant may reply and request re-examination in writing, pointing out the specific errors in the examiner’s action. An applicant may also amend the application by pointing out the novel and inventive features that he/she thinks the claims present and explaining how the amendments overcome the prior art ref- erences or objections. After the applicant’s response, the application will be re-examined.
On second or subsequent consideration, the examiner may declare a final refusal which the applicant can appeal to the Director of Patents of the IPOPHL within two months from the mail- ing date of the Notice of Final Refusal. The decisions or final orders of the Director of Patents shall become final and executory 30 days after receipt thereof by the appellant unless, within the same period, a motion for reconsideration is filed with the Director of Pat- ents or an appeal to the Director General has been perfected. The decision or order of the Director General shall be final and executory 15 days after receipt thereof by the parties unless appealed to the Court of Appeals. The applicant may then appeal the Court of Appeals’ decision to the Supreme Court. Before the grant or refusal of a patent, an appli- cant may convert an application into a utility model application, maintaining the initial filing date. Conversion may be allowed only once. 1.9 Consequences of Failure to Pay Annual Fees If the annual fees and excess claims are not paid within the prescribed time, a notice of non-payment shall be published in the IPOPHL E-Gazette and mailed to the patent owner, appli- cant, or resident agent. The patentee shall be given a six-month grace period from the publication of the notice to pay the annual fee, the excess claim fee, the appli- cable surcharge for delayed payment, and the publication fee. Upon failure to pay the required fees within the grace period, a notice that the application is deemed forfeited or that the patent is consid- ered lapsed as of the date following the expira-
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