Intellectual property filings in the Philippines, both from Filipinos and foreign nationals, saw an increase of 15 percent in 2018, reflecting the continued growth of the local creative and scientific economy.

Filings for patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, and copyright deposits in 2018 amounted to 44,461, exhibiting a growth of 15 percent over 2017’s 38,801 applications. This brings the five-year average growth rate of filings to seven percent.

“We are now seeing the results of our deliberate move for closer engagement with the academe, businesses and industry in regions outside of Metro Manila. In 2018 alone, we opened three intellectual property satellite offices in Dumaguete, Naga, and Zamboanga to reach out to IP creators there,” said Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) director general Josephine Santiago.

Increased filings at both the local and global level not only means increased productivity of the scientific and creative communities but also reflects a rising recognition of the economic added-value of IP in commercial activity and in research and development.

“This signifies that more and more people are utilizing IP to enhance competitiveness in business, and as an incentive to make commercially-viable technology,” said Santiago.

Another contributing factor to this growth is IPOPHL’s deployment in 2018 of its full suite of online filing systems for trademark, invention, utility model and industrial design, allowing easier filing for applicants.

Data show that filings coursed online jumped from 7,645 (across all types, except copyright deposits) in 2017 to 10,346 last year or an increase of 35 percent year-on-year. Online filings have steadily been growing since the first online facilities were launched in 2016.

Per type of IP, the year-on-year filings growth rate again is led by utility model registering a 54 percent growth, or from 1,380 in 2017 to 2,124 in 2018. Keeping to the historical precedence, the majority of the utility models filed in 2018 were in the field of food chemistry/technology, indicating that the innovation direction of local innovators is still towards foodstuffs and agricultural goods.

Trademarks, having already reached a significant scale in filings, registered an 11 percent growth in 2018, translating to some 35,602 applications. By class, majority of trademark applications were in agricultural products and services, a break from the past years when pharmaceuticals, health, and cosmetics took the top share.

Patents saw a growth of 28 percent in 2018, amounting to 3,946 applications. The top field of technology for patent applications is in pharmaceuticals, unchanged since 2014.

Industrial designs grew by nine percent in 2018 compared with 2017, amounting to 1,521. Data show majority of ID applications were filed in the class of packages and containers for the transport and handling of goods.

Copyright deposit recordation meanwhile grew by 29 percent, from 983 filings in 2017 to 1,268 in 2018.

“IP underlies many of the critical sectors driving the vibrancy of a knowledge-based economy like the Philippines, as the filings data show. We hope in 2019 and onwards, many more IP creators come to realize this,” said Santiago.

Johnny Chan