PHILIPPINES Trends and Developments
Trends and Developments Contributed by: Susan D. Villanueva, Patricia A. O. Bunye, Rowanie A. Nakan and John Patrick M. Santos Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia
Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia (CMT) is a top-tier full-service Philippine law firm with 95 lawyers and 99 support staff. Its multi-awarded intellec- tual property (IP) department is distinguished by its ability to provide the widest range of IP ser- vices, including trade mark prosecution, patent drafting and prosecution, copyright protection, IP litigation, IP commercialisation, and IP valua- tion. CMT is the go-to firm for resolving complex IP issues, particularly in patent litigation. Unlike other Philippine law firms that delegate IP litiga-
tion to their general litigators, CMT’s IP lawyers handle IP litigation, which gives them the com- petitive advantage in IP litigation due to their subject matter expertise. The firm’s lawyers and specialists have strong technical backgrounds in physics, chemistry, and engineering, enabling them to adeptly navigate intricate IP challenges. CMT’s IP team bridges technical expertise and legal skills, which enables the formulation of effective legal strategies in the protection and maximisation of IP rights.
Authors
Susan D. Villanueva is a senior partner at CMT and leads the firm’s IP department. She has successfully represented clients in landmark IP cases as its lead litigator, including the first
Patricia A. O. Bunye is the managing partner at CMT. Patricia heads the mining and natural resources department and the energy practice group. She specialises in IP
declaration of an internationally well-known trade mark by the Supreme Court. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the New York Bar Association, a professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law and served as the co-chairperson of the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) Advisory Council for IP from 2016-2019. Villanueva holds a Master of Laws from Yale and graduated cum laude and salutatorian from UP College of Law.
commercialisation and regulatory matters before the Food & Drug Administration. She was the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) president in 2016-2017, the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to hold this position. In 2020, she received LESI’s Peter K. Hess Award of Achievement, which is conferred on LES members who have made lasting contributions to LESI and the licensing profession. She is the author of the Philippines chapter of “International Licensing and Technology Transfer: Practice and the Law”.
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