Nearly 500 MSMEs pushed to go global with broadened knowledge on int’l IP protection
May 4, 2021
A total of 480 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have gained expert insights on global intellectual property (IP) protection from the IP Office of the Philippines’ (IPOPHL) recent webinars on the Madrid System and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), enabling them to develop strategies that will ensure their competitiveness when expanding globally.
The Madrid System and the PCT are international application systems, respectively for trademarks and patents, that allow for a single filing for registration and grant in multiple countries that are contracting parties to the systems.
The webinars, jointly organized with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), have reached a combined viewing of 2,500 on Facebook as of writing.
Mary Grace Cruz-Yap, director of the Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau which led the activities, said the webinars are hoped to offer MSMEs more windows of opportunity that can help accelerate their recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
“By helping small businesses and under-resourced inventors better understand the Madrid system and the PCT, IPOPHL hopes to instill the mindset that in a globalized world, they too can compete and make a difference in international markets. By expanding their horizons, we hope to see them yield benefits greater than their losses to the pandemic,” DITTB Cruz-Yap said.
International trademark protection
Through the April 28 webinar titled “Managing Your Marks: The Madrid Monitor, Portfolio Manager and Trademark Enforcement Strategies,” MSMEs learned the application process under the Madrid System, the different examination processes in some of the Madrid member-countries, and cost-efficient strategies to enforce their IP rights against infringers.
Moreover, Olivier Pierre from the Madrid Information and Promotion Division, Brands and Designs Sector (MIPD-BDS) of WIPO, guided MSMEs on the use of the Madrid Monitor tool to “keep track of detailed and real-time international trademark registrations and keep an eye on competitors.”
Catherine Dupenloup, also from WIPO’s MIPD-BDS, held a step-by-step demo on how to optimize the use of the Madrid Portfolio Manager, an online tool that enables applicants to manage their international registration, from requesting for changes in renewal or country-designations to status-tracking and making payments.
Meanwhile, May Tan, Partner and Head of the Trade Marks Practice at the Yusarn Audrey of Singapore, shared her insights on how best to respond to refusal or opposition issues that may be encountered when registering a trademark in China, the EU, Japan, Korea and the US during the substantive examination phase.
PCT thru the Inventor Assistance Program
Meanwhile, at the virtual workshop on the Inventor Assistance Program (IAP) held last April 21, MSMEs were given an overview of the process flow when filing for PCT.
Allison Mages, head of WIPO’s Legislative and Policy Advice Section of the Patent Law Division, also outlines important and practical market and legal considerations in developing a global patent expansion strategy, while emphasizing that differences between national IP laws must be taken into account before making any business decision in any market.
Meanwhile, IPOPHL provided sessions showing how its IAP can help facilitate MSMEs’ entry into global markets with a safeguarded IP.
It also touted its PCT Filing Assistance Program where qualified beneficiaries enjoy waived fees for an International Search Report (ISR) and International Preliminary Examination Report (IPER) and are provided technical consultation regarding the PCT application process.
An ISR identifies the existing patents and prior art which may affect an invention’s patentability while an IPER is an initial assessment of an application’s novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability prepared according to international standards.
Both are conducted by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) which is an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority, duly appointed under the PCT.
For his part, IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba challenged MSMEs to aim for the global protection of their IP products and services in other countries.
“I believe that everyone here would agree when I say that Philippine innovations and creations are world class and, therefore, deserve a bigger stage. I hope that from this workshop, you can help boost resident filings under the PCT and more importantly, show the world what Filipino ingenuity really is,” Barba added.### (Janina Lim, Media Relations Officer)
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