Incentives needed for intellectual property system to be attractive to small businesses, under-resourced inventors

Filipino inventors, scientists, and businesses still need critical government assistance, which may come in the form of subsidies to make protection of their intellectual property attractive, said top government officials, together with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) at the Intellectual Property Convergence 2018 forum.

Considering the developing status of the Philippines, momentum in spurring registration of intellectual property - the avenue to vest works and their creators with legal protection - can be started with making the process cost-effective. 

DTI Undersecretary Rowel Barba noted the option for intellectual property lawyers to consider waiving fees in handling the IP cases of micro,small, and medium enterprises (MSMES), in an effort to encourage them.

“Our appeal is for intellectual property lawyers to allocate 10 percent of their IP load cases to MSMEs, for free?” asked Undersecretary Barba. 

IPOPHL Director General Josephine R. Santiago noted, on the part of government, waiving the registration of fees may impede the efficiency of IPOPHL as it relies on these revenues to employ the experts needed in making the IP system work, as well as training for scientists and researchers.

However, Atty. Santiago noted, seeing this need of under-resourced individuals, is partnering with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) for the Inventors Assistance Program.

The program matches developing country investors and small businesses with limited means with patent attorneys to provide pro-bono legal assistance to secure patent protection.

“We now have 14 volunteer lawyers in our network helping under-resourced inventors. We encourage other lawyers to please look at this,” Atty. Santiago appealed to the audience.

For its part, WIPO, considering the substantial resources at their  disposal, is able to offer a  90 percent  discount of any enterprise or individual from a least-developed country, or any individual from a middle to lower income country for applications.

WIPO Director General Dr. Francis Gurry underlined that the use of Intellectual property is tied to how a country perceives intellectual property, on a cultural level - that is, whether or not it is a mainstreamed activity that part of every day life. 

Dr. Gurry cited the case of China, which is now the country with the most number of patent applications in the world despite only having an enabling law in 1984. 

"There was a genuine cultural movement in China that has resulted into propensity to patent so i do think that culture is very important and they can be influenced by the dynamics of the intellectual property system," Dr. Gurry said.

Speaking for the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), added that a policy of the department for university researchers is the obligation to produce work that is patentable. 

Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations and Other International Organizations Evan P. Garcia, for his part, gave the discussion a global dimension, pressing there has to be a balanced approach to invigorate the intellectual property system - not just for the public but for government as well.

“We know global issues shape the IP policy of the Philippines, but an interesting question for me is how intellectual property system of the Philippines help shape global issues? ” Amb. Garcia asked.

“As a developing country, the Philippines has a lot of interest to be balanced. We advocate the balanced use of intellectual property, so that government has to figure out a whole of society approach and reflect interests of individual business and inventions, while ensuring the public has easy access to information,” Ambassador Garcia emphasized.