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IP Resources

What is IP?

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Any creation of the human mind is considered as intellectual property. As soon as it is enforceable in each jurisdiction, it is deemed an intellectual property right. Under Republic Act No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, intellectual property rights consist of

1. Copyright and Related Rights;
2. Trademarks and Service Marks;
3. Geographic Indications;
4. Industrial Designs
5. Patents;
6. Layout-Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits; and
7. Protection of Undisclosed Information.

Rights are given to owners of the intellectual property for their exclusive economic and moral benefit.

What is a Patent?

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A certificate of patent registration is granted under the IP Code for inventions, utility models and industrial designs.

Patentable inventions are technical solutions to a problem in any field of human activity that is new or novel, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. It may be, or may relate to, a product, or process, or an improvement of any of the foregoing. In the Philippines, the term of protection for registered inventions is twenty (20) years from filing date or priority date for applications filed under the IP Code.

What is a Utility Model?

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A utility model is a novel and industrially applicable technical solution to a problem in any field of human activity relating to a product, a process, or any improvement thereof. Because of the lack of inventive step, registered utility models in the Philippines are only protected for a period of seven (7) years from filing date of the application.

What is an
Industrial Design Patent?

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An industrial design patent is granted to a new or ornamental composition of lines or colors or any three-dimensional form, whether associated with said lines or colors. Such composition or form should give a special appearance to and can serve as a pattern for an industrial product or handicraft. The term of protection of registered industrial designs in the Philippines is only for five (5) years reckoned from the filing date of the application and can be renewed twice for the same 5-year terms or for a total of fifteen (15) years.

What is a Trademark?

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A mark is any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods (trademark) or services (service mark) of an enterprise and shall include a stamped or marked container of goods. A registered mark is protected for ten (10) years from date of registration and can be renewed for period of ten (10) years. Proof of actual commercial use must be filed by the owner of registered mark on the 3^rd year from filing date of the application and from the 5^th year to the 6^th year of the anniversary of the registration date.

What is a Copyright?

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Copyrights consist of a bundle of rights that a creator has over original intellectual works in the literary and artistic domain that are protected from the moment of their creation. Original works subject of copyright protection include books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings. Copyrighted works are generally protected for the duration of the lifetime of the creator and for another fifty (50) years from the creator’s demise.

What rights are included under copyrights?

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Among the bundle of rights forming part of copyrights are:

1. Economic Rights – these rights relate to the ability of the creator to be compensated for the use, publication or distribution of the copyrighted work, which covers (a) reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the work; (b) dramatization, translation, adaptation, abridgment, arrangement or other transformation of the work; (c) first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale or other forms of transfer of ownership; (d) rental of the original or a copy of an audiovisual or cinematographic work, a work embodied in a sound recording, a computer program, a compilation of data and other materials or a musical work in graphic form, irrespective of the ownership of the original or the copy which is the subject of the rental; (e) public display of the original or a copy of the work; (f) public performance of the work; and (f) other communication to the public of the work.
2.  Moral Rights – these rights pertain to the capacity of the creator to acknowledge or disavow authorship to the copyrighted work, which includes rights (a) to require that the authorship of the works be attributed to the creator, in particular, the right that the name, as far as practicable, be indicated in a prominent way on the copies, and in connection with the public use of the work; (b) to make any alterations of the work prior to, or to withhold it from publication; (c) to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the work which would be prejudicial to the creator’s honor or reputation; and (d) to restrain the use of the creator’s name with respect to any work or in a distorted version of the copyrighted work.
3. Resale Right – this inalienable right allows a creator to participate to the extent of five percent (5%) in the gross proceeds of every sale or lease of an original works of painting, sculpture, and manuscript only after the first disposition thereof by the creator. This right shall exist during the lifetime of the creator and for fifty (50) years after the creator’s demise.