Brands, big and small, see IP for long-term growth

June 14, 2023

Denver Chicano, founder and general manager of Patchmed Cosmetics Trading, owns one local patent application granted by the IP Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). The patent covers the process for its nata de coco-made patch, hailed a breakthrough for providing a cheaper but effective alternative to the synthetic bandages that diabetic patients use for their wounds. 

As a biotechnology company eyeing unicorn status in the long run, Chicano said they seek “to patent everything” as much as they can as patents provide investors a clearer value to an invention. 

“If you have 20 patents even if they are still pending, a big company can look into us. So just patent it. Nothing to lose, it’s just [almost P2,000] for the initial application,” he said at a panel during the Creative Industries Summit held last March. 

Patenting, however, may not be the track for all kinds of innovation-driven businesses. 

Nonetheless, other types of IP helps establish a company’s legitimacy and innovative distinction. Oro Handmade Innovations, Inc. CEO and Founder Lolita Cabanlet realized this in an encounter with an investor years ago.

“Take IP seriously”

It was at an international exhibit. Oro Handmade was one amongst dozens of other exhibitors competing for the attention of hundreds of investors. Eventually, a German businessman approached. His first question: Did the company own a patent?

“I told him directly, we have not invented anything,” Cabanlet said. “But we do innovate so we have a UM (utility model). That’s how I explained to him. And when he learned that our brand is protected, he was very pleased.”

Oro Handmade produces paper using natural fibers such as abaca, pineapple leaves, bamboo, rattan and cotton pulp instead of cutting off trees. These papers are turned into durable but lightweight packaging and decorative pieces for the home. Having started small — literally, its first set of paper products saw the light of day in Cabanlet’s kitchen — the Cagayan De Oro-based firm never imagined that IP could be a cornerstone in building its competitiveness. 

“My advice would be to take IP rights very seriously because at first we didn’t mind it but as we were growing we realized it’s very important,” Cabanlet said passionately. “Take time and take it seriously unlike what we did. We sort of shrugged it off for quite a long time until our buyers demanded for it. That’s only the time and we were short of time already, we could have taken it long before.”

IP for protecting livelihood and legacy

Whether someone still learning the ropes of the vast IP ecology, like Gabbie Sarenas, founder of the Gabbie Sarenas fashion brand, or an established firm like Viva Communications Inc. whose lifeblood are its copyrighted works, any IP owner can reap invaluable rewards from integrating an IP-related strategy in every stage of the business lifecycle, whether it be on protection, enforcement and licensing. 

“I think the creative individual needs to understand that it’s not just a passion project. It’s not just a gig. It’s a livelihood, and this venue is a good start in understanding what your rights are as a creator. Go online, read, ask the right questions and protect yourself. Protect your intellectual property,” Viva Chief Strategy Officer Onat Roldan said as a panelist. 

“For us designers, I understand it’s an extra step because when you go to creative business you just go on and create another line. At the end of the day, you have to think about protecting yourself and your legacy,” Sarenas said. 

In thinking IP, companies can protect their future in increasingly competitive markets, according to Republiq Group of Companies CEO Bryan Yap who shared his own IP success story.

“We started in the services industry but we decided to create IP for the long term. If you’re just doing service, at the end of the day, you’re only competing on prices but once you build a sustainable IP, you’re creating a brand,” added Yap.

According to the European Union IP Office’s 2022 SME Scoreboard, 10% of the SMEs in the EU own registered IP rights. Of these companies, 93% report they gain advantage and 36% report they have achieved financial gain from their registered IP rights.

Quality service at IPOPHL

To Chicano, protection for local creators would not be possible without access to IPOPHL’s services, which he described as “very easy” to use, enabling a speedier transformation of ideas into reality. 

“If you look at the website of IPOPHL they already have an online facility for application which is very, very user friendly. It’s easy to apply and rates for each application are very reasonable,” Oro Handmade’s Cabanlet added.

Aside from its frontline services, IPOPHL’s awareness campaign has borne fruit, reflected not only in the growing number of IP registration filings over the years but also on the ground. This, as shoppers now directly reach out to IP owners to sound the alarm on possible infringement incidents.

“There was one that is exactly the same [as mine], I wasn’t the one who discovered it, somebody else did, which is great because you have eyes everywhere and then because you’re so consistent with your work that people know it’s yours,” Sarenas said.

With the advice of her lawyer, the fashion designer sent the seller a formal personal message and a photo of her trademark registration certificate to prove her rightful ownership and authority to request a halt of the sale. While the seller did take down the advertising post, Sarenas admitted that she is unaware if the products continued to be sold elsewhere.

Nonetheless, Baranda & Associates/Rouse Managing Partner Atty. Edmund Jason Baranda, who was moderating the panel, described the seller’s mere compliance to take down the post as a positive development. This stands in contrast to the scenario 10 years ago when pleas from IP owners and counsels would fall on deaf ears. 

“At least now IP awareness is higher nowadays because [infringers] recognize,” Baranda said. 

Working with platforms

Inevitably, rampant counterfeiting and piracy activities online had its share of the spotlight at the panel.

To recall, reports and complaints on suspected counterfeiting and piracy filed at IPOPHL surged to 121 in 2020 as the pandemic presented lucrative opportunities for illicit traders. This surpassed the 100 reports and complaints gathered cumulatively from 2016 to 2020 and further expanded to 134 counts in 2021. Of the total counterfeiting reports in the first pandemic year, alleged fake apparels were the most reported, followed by gadgets and cosmetics. Meanwhile, movies and shows were the most reported for alleged piracy, trailed behind by e-books and software products.

“Thankfully we work closely with the platforms like Youtube, Facebook and the likes. They have their policies and guidelines in place,” Roldan said.

With Youtube’s Content ID system, any user-generated content detected to match a video with a copyright claim, or even a rip-off from the video, results in either the blocking of the possibly infringing video; monetization by running ads on the video (with revenues sometimes shared with the uploader); and the tracking of the video’s viewership statistics.

“With YouTube, for example, what we do is upload specimens of uploaded content, submit it to them, so now we have a dedicated backend team… all they do is scour the internet and call out all these rip-offs, and with the help of platforms they are taken down,” Roldan added. 

Director General Rowel S. Barba said he lauds platforms like YouTube “for understanding the role they play in fostering fairness and respect for the rightful content owners.” Such initiatives, he said, incentivizes creators to keep producing and filling in netizens’ ever growing appetite for new content. 

He also commended the 28 brand owners and platforms part of the E-commerce Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU aims to establish a collaborative system among members to more efficiently take out posts that enable and condone counterfeiting and piracy.

These brand owners are namely Unilever Philippines, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Philippines, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Philippines, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc., Castrol Ltd., Solar Pictures, Inc., Daniel Wellington AB, Cambridge University Press, Golden ABC Inc., Assa Abloy, P&G, Springer Nature Ltd., Brandshield, PUMA, Sanofi, Josefina Manufacturing Inc., Pearson Education South Asia Pte, Treasury Wine Estate and Honeywell.

Platforms on-board include Lazada, Shopee and Zalora. As for associations, the MOU has the Philippine Retailers Association, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, British Chamber of Commerce, European Chamber of Commerce, Pharmaceutical Security Institute and the Alcoholic Beverages Alliance of the Philippines.

“Clearing digital environments of counterfeiting and piracy activities may be a colossal task but it is one that must be done. Platforms which invest in technologies and systems to preserve their values and good relations with its very stakeholders, will stand to benefit in the very, very long term. Meanwhile, those that dodge accountability in helping enforce IP rights will find it hard to survive,” Barba said. # # # (Janina Lim, Information Officer III)