IPOPHL Joins PPH
28 August 2012
Ricardo R Blancaflor, director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), and Japan Patent Office (JPO) Commissioner Yoshiyuki Iwai, have signed an agreement allowing the Philippines to join the 25-nation Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) network, the agency said.
The Philippines’ participation in the programme is slated to begin on March 12, and will enable both countries to share their intellectual property workload for three years. The signing of the agreement took place in Tokyo in February.
“PPH is envisioned to benefit both examiners and applicants as it will increase efficiency of examination and result to faster turn-around time,” Blancaflor’s statement read.
Other IP offices participating in the PPH include the US Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office and the Korean Intellectual Property Office. Singapore is the only other ASEAN member of the PPH network, which is part of a global effort to initiate work-sharing and reduce redundancy of work in IP offices.
In its latest annual report, IPOPHL said that patent filings in the Philippines fell 11% to 3,021 applications last year from 3,391 in 2010. The office approved 1,051 patent applications in 2011, down slightly from 1,153 a year earlier.
