CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Applications for registration of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Central Luzon increased by 72 percent.
Based on the report of the local Intellectual Property Office (IPO) based at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Regional Office, there were 307 applications for patent, trademark, copyright, utility model and other forms of IPR registrations in 2018 compared to 2017’s 178 applications.
“Registrants from the province of Pampanga made the bulk of applications with 174, while applicants from Bulacan totaled 58. There were also 25 IPR applications from Tarlac, 22 from Bataan, 18 from Nueva Ecija, 7 from Aurora, and 1 from Zambales,” DTI Regional Director Judith Angeles disclosed.
Of the 307 IPR applications processed by the local IPO office, 115 were part of the “Juana Make a Mark” program of DTI, where women entrepreneurs are assisted by the agency to register the intellectual property associated with their products at discounted rates.
For Central Luzon, majority of the applications are for trade names or brands, product designs, product labels and label colors.
“Micro small and medium enterprises are encouraged to register their trademarks and IPRs with IPO to ensure their legal rights to use the marks or symbols associated with their products,” Angeles added.
Republic Act 8293 otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code outlines the rights to trademarks, patents, industrial designs, service marks, copyrights and utility models. The Act also sets rules on the use of these marks and penalizes infringement of the legal rights of IPR holders.
DTI, as Chairperson of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights, intends to ensure that the benefits or proceeds from the commercial use of IPR redound to the legal holder of the IPR, and to avoid undue copying and illegal use of IPO-registered trade names.