Philippines to move to cloud for IP registration services
03 August 2023
With the assistance of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is considering moving its mission-critical IP registration services to the cloud in 2024 to streamline internal procedures and increase data management efficiency.
This was mentioned by Rowel S. Barba, the director general of IPOPHL, at a side event at the 64th General Assembly of WIPO, where the IP offices of Uganda and Norway also spoke about their respective digital transformation programs. Barba discussed the IP Administration System (IPAS) limits, pain spots, IPOPHL’s experiences with it and his wish list for the upcoming IPAS 4.0 deployment.
WIPO created and owns the IPAS software made available to IP offices through cooperative contracts for its provision, hosting and upkeep. The program allows for the electronic processing of papers for IP registration and may be customized to adopt internal work processes that correspond to an office’s policies and practices.
IPAS version 4.0, the most recent release, will only be housed in an Amazon Web Services (AWS) facility headquartered in the EU. In the meantime, an older version, the IPAS 3.x implemented in IPOPHL at the beginning of 2012, is now beginning to show its age. Barba reaffirmed that, although being very difficult, upgrading to IPAS 4.0 is the best option for IPOPHL.
“We are aware that the IPAS 4.0 package includes the bulk of the functionalities lacking from IPAS 3.x. Additionally, it is anticipated to feature workflow fixes that the previous version’s downtimes had caused,” said Barba.
He added that when IPOPHL moves to the most recent IPAS version, WIPO has already committed to looking into how it can accommodate the increased standards. By the end of July, WIPO had already granted IPOPHL access to the IPAS 4 test version, giving the Office additional time to prepare for the transition.
“We sincerely appreciate WIPO’s helpful technical support. To have a more in-depth discussion about the degree of assistance we will require to adopt IPAS 4, we expect to interact with them shortly. As we go toward longer-term ICT aspirations, we want the change to go smoothly and be sustained with the least amount of expense and disruption possible,” said Barba.
- Excel V. Dyquiangco
