PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Susan D. Villanueva, Patricia A. O. Bunye, Rowanie A. Nakan and Ritz Angelica R. Alejandro, Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia
• The invention does not qualify for registra- tion as a utility model and does not meet the requirements of registrability. • The description and the claims do not comply with the prescribed requirements. • Any drawing that is necessary for the under- standing of the invention has not been furnished. • The owner of the utility model registration is not the inventor or his successor in title. • The utility model registration extends beyond the content of the application as originally filed. Any person may also petition to cancel the industrial design at any time during the term of its registrations on any of the following grounds: • The industrial design does not give a special appearance to and cannot serve as a pattern for an industrial product or handicraft. • The industrial design is not new or original. • The industrial design is dictated essentially by technical or functional consideration to obtain a technical result. • The industrial design is contrary to public order, health or morals. • The subject matter of the industrial design extends beyond the content of the application originally filed. Compulsory Licensing The Director General of the IPOPHL may grant a licence to exploit a patented invention, even without the agreement of the patent owner, in favour of any person who has shown capability to exploit the invention, under any of the follow- ing circumstances: • national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency;
• where the public interest, in particular, nation- al security, nutrition, health or the develop- ment of other vital sectors of the national economy so requires; or • where a judicial or administrative body has determined that the manner of exploitation by the owner of the patent or his/her licensee is anti-competitive; or • in the case of public non-commercial use without satisfactory reason; • if the patented invention is not being worked in the Philippines on a commercial scale, although capable of being worked, without satisfactory reason; and • where the demand for patented drugs and medicines is not being met to an adequate extent and on reasonable terms, as deter- mined by the Secretary of the Department of Health. 2.3 Courts With Jurisdiction The BLA shall have original jurisdiction on administrative complaints for violation of IP rights, including petitions for cancellation and petitions for compulsory licensing of patents provided that the total damages claimed are not less than PHP200,000.00 (or approximately USD3,400.00). The decision of the BLA may be appealed to the Director and thereafter to the Director General, and then to the Court of Appeals and then finally to the Supreme Court. The regional trial courts (RTC) designated by the Supreme Court as special commercial courts shall have jurisdiction over civil and criminal actions involving IP rights. Their decisions shall be appealable to the Court of Appeals and there- after to the Supreme Court.
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