Statement of IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba on PH’s Jump in GII Rankings

September 4, 2020

We are very pleased with the results of the 2020 Global Innovation Index as it captures well the rising innovation scene in the Philippines. 

The latest GII has shown that the Philippines’ four-rank jump was positively impacted by intellectual property (IP) filings.

In this gain, IP protection proves an important activity for a thriving innovation environment.

As part of the 25-member Innovation Council, the interagency body created by the much lauded Philippine Innovation Act of 2020, IPOPHL will strengthen synergies with government partners, businesses, researchers, the academia, and creative industry players to align our policies and standards on innovation, and move toward the country’s innovation goals with greater urgency.

IPOPHL will continue work in pushing for the use of the IP system in research and development (R&D) processes especially across Innovation and Technology Support Offices (ITSOs) as they lead the way in domestic innovations. 

ITSOs take lead in domestic innovations

Housed by universities, colleges, other higher educational institutions, and R&D centers, ITSOs assists creative minds throughout their IP journey—from IP awareness to IP creation, protection, commercialization and management.

Our data shows that in 2019, ITSOs accounted for 54% of total resident filings for patents, growing from a 41% share in the previous year.

On utility model (UM) applications, ITSO-partners contributed 50% last year growing from 45% in 2018.

To note, UM fillings, which advanced to 8th in the 2020 GII from 15th, was identified as one of the highest drivers for the country’s overall gain this year. 

UM protection, being lower in cost and an easier entry-point to commercialize works as compared to securing a patent grant, proves to be a good opportunity for under-resourced inventors and even micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs to advance in the market while enjoying the benefits of being an IP rights holder.

More important to note in this is that ITSOs played a critical part in the advancement not just of UM but in a large part of rankings in the GII as these are factory hubs of innovation.  

To sustain their contribution, IPOPHL is reaching for the stars as we target for a 75% increase in local filings of ITSOs by 2025, to 2,842 from 1,624 in 2019. This is achievable with IPOPHL’s intent to be aggressive in scaling up ITSOs IP capacities.

At present, IPOPHL has 100 ITSO-partners, from only 84 in 2019, and continues to welcome into this growing network high-technology delivering institutions keen on riding the waves of technological development and advancing their position with protected IP assets. 

Positive impact of increased filings

Aside from UM filings, among the biggest drivers to the GII rankings were industrial design (ID) applications which leaped 38 spots to 33rd from 71st.

In 2019, ID filings grew 7% to 1,631 with residents being the most active as they account for 62% or 1,019 of the total.

The patent by origin indicator edged up one step to 81st as patent filings in 2019 grew 1% year-on-year to 4,020. 

Meanwhile, trademark filings remained 57th. In 2019, however, filings for trademarks posted the biggest annual growth at 10% to 39,399.

Increase in filings can be attributed to heightened appreciation of IP as a business tool, demonstrating that the Office is reaping fruits from its engagement with stakeholders and new partners and of its heightened IP awareness drive.

The GII also showed an increase in the use of IP assets from the Philippines as IP receipts rose nine rungs to 78th from 87th. This is very good news as it shows that innovations are not just growing in number but are likewise gaining more economic value and are growing in commercial utilization. 

Creative Outputs

Meanwhile, the Creative Outputs pillar climbed six steps to 57th from 63rd, driven mostly by the Creative Goods and Services category (18th from 40th). 

IPOPHL can attest to the amplified creativity in the country as the office saw its copyright recordation in 2019 rise 33% year-on-year to 1,682.

The creative sector has been a priority at IPOPHL, but more so under my term. 

We at IPOPHL have been in constant engagement with various creative industry groups with the goal of equipping them with the technical knowhow for them to manage their copyright and related rights in a way that they can optimally extract the value of their works. 

Recently, we have released a set of revised rules promoting the establishment of collective management organizations (CMO)  as they provide low-cost ways for copyright and related rights holders to administer the exploitation of their works, from collecting fees and distributing royalties to warning and going after those who infringe on their rights.

Among the new provisions in the revised rules is the requirement for the CMO's board members to have completed at least eight hours of training on good governance. This certifies a CMO’s competency to effectively serve copyright and related rights holders.

At present, there are four IPOPHL-accredited CMOs serving music composers, performers, sound recorders, literary writers, book authors, publishers, and graphic artists. 

Right now, we are in talks with at least two more groups (one for music and another for visual arts) which are preparing to undergo the accreditation process. Ideally, we are aiming that there should be at least one accredited CMO for every creative sector.

Protecting innovation gains thru enforcement

Alongside efforts to scale up the innovation and creative ecosystem’s use of  IP protection tools, IPOPHL has been firming up its enforcement rules and regulations to help IP rights holders more easily go after their offenders and attain speedier justice, ensuring that the hard work of innovators and creators are not undermined by counterfeiters and pirates.

IPOPHL is also backing and initiating legal measures that can put in place an IP enforcement regime that better provides stakeholders with the level of protection they need in a digital world where mass-level infringement is common. 

Moving forward, IPOPHL will intensify efforts as leader in accelerating the use of the IP system and ensuring that measures on IP rights protection are rigorously enforced and constantly reviewed to remain relevant. Rest assured that IPOPHL's policies will continue to be inclusive, proactive, and responsive to the evolving needs of innovators and creators.