IP Expert

Overview

Maria Gladys C. Vilchez is primarily involved in IPR protection and enforcement, including litigation before the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHIL) and the courts. She provides legal counselling, due diligence and documentation services for commercial transactions, including technology transfer and licensing. She serves as an IP consultant to several Department of Science and Technology (DOST) agencies and DOST-funded RDIs, providing advice for the protection and commercialization of government-funded research, setting up technology licencing offices and crafting of institutional IP policies.

Prior to HBVAR, she worked as chief hearing officer at the IPOPHIL Bureau of Legal Affairs, charged with the administrative adjudication of IPR violation cases and inter-partes cases.

Vilchez is an IP practitioner at the forefront of ADR, being an accredited mediator at the IPOPHIL and an accredited neutral of the WIPO-Arbitration and Mediation Center.

An advocate of IP education and promotion, Vilchez regularly speaks in trainings conducted by the IPOPHIL IP Academy.  She has conducted several studies in support of national IPR policy formulation, funded by the USAID Trade Assistance for Development (TRADE) and the International Development Research Centre (Canada).

Vilchez is a Trustee of the Intellectual Property Alumni Association (IPAA), having received training under the JPO and JIPII; a member of the IP Collegium, an organization of IP experts from the private sector in the APIC region; and a member of the Licensing Executive Society (Philippines).