The Philippine government has made it a State policy to protect and promote intellectual property rights. This policy was enshrined both in the 1973 Constitution which provides that “the exclusive right to inventions, writings and artistic creations shall be secured to inventors, authors, and artists for a limited period” and in the 1987 Constitution which explicitly mandates that the State shall protect intellectual property.
The Philippines became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] in 1980. It was a signatory to a number of significant multilateral international agreements and treaties for the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights.
The first laws protecting intellectual property rights were enacted in the Philippines in 1947, to wit:
Republic Act No. 165 otherwise known as “An Act Creating a Patent Office,
Prescribing its Powers
and Duties, Regulating the
Issuance of Patents and Appropriating Funds Therefor”.
Republic Act No. 166 otherwise known as “An Act to Provide for the Registration
and Protection of
Trade Marks, Trade Names and
Service Marks, Defining Unfair Competition and False Marking and
Providing Remedies Against
the Same, and for other Purposes”.
Subsequent to the foregoing, additional laws were enacted and issuances promulgated to further promote and protect intellectual property rights, to wit:
Republic Act No. 422 transferring the examination of copyright applications
to the Bureau of Public
Libraries.
Republic Act No. 623 regulating the use of duly stamped or marked bottles,
boxes, casks, kegs,
barrels, and other similar
containers; providing, in the case of foreign applicants, for reciprocity
and
recognition of their priority
rights; establishing, in the case of trademarks, principal and supplemental
as well as interference proceedings;
extending protection of utility models and industrial designs
under the patent system; and
providing, in the case of trademark registration, for reciprocity
arrangement with other countries.
Republic Act No. 5434 providing for a uniform procedure for appeals from
the decision of
quasi-judicial officers including
the Director of Patents.
Administrative Order No. 94 [November 20, 1967] creating a committee to
review the Philippine
patent system and recommend
amendatory laws to further upgrade it.
Presidential Decree No. 721 creating the Legal Services Division and the
Research and
Information Division in the
Philippine Patent Office. Subsequently, major reorganization of
the various Divisions
was made in the 1980's. The General Organic Chemistry Division
and the Chemical Technology
Division were merged to form the Chemical Division. The
Mechanical-Electrical Division
was merged with the Mechanical, Design, Utility Model
Division
and Electrical Division to
form the Mechanical and Electrical Examining
Division.
Presidential Decree No. 1263 amending Republic Acts Nos. 165 and 166, granting
authority to
the Philippine
Patent Office to increase its fees and to spend a portion of its income
for priority
projects; exempting
indigent inventors who filed their application for patent through the Philippine
Inventor's Commission
from all fees charged by the Philippine Patent Office; and shortening
the period for the
grant of a compulsory license from one hundred eighty
[180] days to one
hundred twenty [120] days
from the date the petition is filed in cases where
the compulsory
license applied for is on
a patented product or process involving
any project approved by
the Board of Investments [BOI].
Executive Order No. 133 [February 27, 1987] merging the Philippine Patent
Office with the then
Technology Transfer Board
thereby creating the Bureau of Patents, Trademarks and Technology
Transfer [BPTTT].
Executive Order No. 60 was issued in 1993 creating the Inter-Agency Committee
on Intellectual
Property Rights [IAC-IPR]
under the Office of the President of the Philippines.
Department Administrative Orders Nos. 5 and 6 introduced amendments to
the Rules of Practice
in Patent
and Trademark Cases and the Rules of Procedures of the Technology Transfer
Registry
effective on March 15, 1993.
Republic Act No. 8293 otherwise known as the Intellectual
Property Code of the Philippines was
enacted and signed into law
in 1997. It took effect on January 1, 1998.
On March 8, 1988, the first issue of the BPTTT Official Gazette was launched.
In 1992, the Philippine Association of Certified Patent Agents [PACPA] was incorporated thereby recognizing and promoting the patent agent profession in the Philippines.
In the same year, the CD-ROM Version of the bibliographic data of registered Philippine patents was introduced.
In 1993, the Kantor-Navarro Agreement was signed as a result of the negotiations between the Philippines and the United States for the purpose of delisting the Philippines from the Priority Watch List of Countries covered by the Super 301 List under the United States Trade Act.
In October of the same year, the Philippine component of the EC-ASEAN Programme on Patents and Trademarks was officially launched thereby strengthening the capability of Industrial Property Offices in ASEAN to administer their respective patents and trademarks systems and to further facilitate the exchange of patent information among ASEAN members. Under this program, a Patent Documentation Center was established in Cebu in 1994.
In 1994, the patent and trademark search and examination procedures were modernized through the assistance of the European Commission. Made available were 2 CD-ROM work stations and a complete set of ESPACE CD-ROM containing the abstracts, first page and full text of the applications filed from 1988 to 1994 with the European Patent Office.
In 1995, special courts were designated by the Philippine Supreme Court to hear cases involving intellectual property rights.
|
|
|
|
|
 Harvard
Computer Systems, Inc. |
|
|
|