The Philippines aims to accede next year to an international agreement where local designers can enjoy an easier and more cost efficient way to protect their designs worldwide, according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).
IPOPHL was referring to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (IDs) which allows a designer to file a single ID application with minimal paperwork directly to the World Intellectual Property Organization through their eHague online system. The system requires a single set of requirements and payment through a single currency (Swiss francs).
The centralized management system also allows the applicant flexibility in targeting national or regional markets.
Rowel Barba, IPOPHL director-general of IPOPHL, said the agency is encouraging more designers to register their work.
“With the Hague System, a local designer would have a way to protect their IDs in multiple jurisdictions through a simplified international filing system. This can prove to be advantageous, especially for our small and medium enterprises who can avail of the services of the Hague System and enjoy lower cost in filing fees compared with filing individually in each country,” said Barba in a statement yesterday.
Barba said not many local designers are aware that they must protect their designs separately from their businesses’ processes and brands.
Registration could safeguard design assets more strongly from counterfeiting and other forms of intellectual property theft, IPOPHL said.
There are 79 member states–or 96 countries as inter-governmental organizations are also allowed to accede to the Agreement–under the Hague System.
Upon its accession in 2024, the Philippines will be the fifth country in the Asean to be a member of the agreement, following Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam.
