The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) saw an increase in innovation filings as of the first half of the year.
Preliminary data from IPOPHL showed patent and industrial design (ID) filings grew year-on-year almost every month while utility models (UM) have seen consistent growth every month.
Rowel Barba, IPOPHL director-general said the agency sees patent activities could reach a new record-high while UM and ID applications are recovering. Applications for patent registration increased 9 percent to 2,134, from 1,958. Non-residents, with 1,916 applications, accounted for 90 percent while residents filed for 218, accounting for 10 percent.
Most patent applications are on pharmaceuticals (24.47 percent); organic fine chemistry (10.58 percent); and digital communications (7.89 percent).
Filings for UM — a patent-like IP right to protect innovations — bounced back from lows in the pandemic as filings in grew 27.7 percent to 835 from 654.
A total of 802 applications or 96 percent derived from residents while 33 or 4 percent were from non-residents.
Top UMs filed were in fields of food chemistry (55.6 percent); basic material chemistry (8.9 percent); and Pharmaceuticals (5.6 percent).
Applications for ID — used to protect the three or two-dimensional aesthetic features of a product – expanded by 17.6 percent to 635 applications from 540. Activities were driven by residents with a 337 or 53.1 percent share in filings. Non-resident ID filings took up 298 or 46.9 percent.
Top industries for ID applications were in means of transport or hoisting (15.4 percent); furnishing (11.1 percent); and packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods (10.8 percent).
Copyright registrations totaled 2,833, climbing by 64.5 percent from 1,722.
Barba also highlighted a surge in awareness of copyright protection as registrations landed 70 percent closer towards IPOPHL’s 2023 goal of 4,000 registrations — a 7.9 percent increase from 3,706 achieved in 2022.
Copyright registrations for the period were mainly driven by books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels and other writings (60.4 percent); followed by computer programs, software, games and apps (10.6 percent); and musical compositions (8.8 percent).
Filings for trademarks slipped by 8 percent year-on-year to 18,599 from 20,342 applications.
The share of non-resident filers and resident fillers stood at 6,393 or a share of 34.4 percent and 12,206 or 65.6 percent, respectively.
Bulk of trademark filings were in pharmaceutical, health and cosmetic products (with a 18.7 percent share), followed by agricultural products and services (17.9 percent) and scientific research, information and communication technology (13.5 percent).
