Copyright deposits rise in the Philippines
Philippines’ IPO sees jump in copyright filings | Increase reflects easing of pandemic restrictions | Country ramps up IP awareness.
Copyright deposits and recordation increased by 129% in the Philippines in the first half of 2022, as the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) intensifies its IP awareness campaign.
In an announcement shared yesterday, August 11, IPOPHL explained that copyright deposits and recordation jumped to 1,722, with most of the deposits falling under the categories of other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works; books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels, and other writings; and photographic works (191).
Copyright deposits also saw strong growth in 2021, with deposits soaring by 123% to 2,086 from 940 in the year.
In July this year, the office set out six projects seeking to raise copyright awareness and support the faster economic recovery of under-resourced artists. The projects include an e-book answering the most common questions the book industry has about IP, and a dance workshop.
Filings for trademarks also grew by 2.9% with 20,300 filings, of which residents accounted for 62% or 12,514 filings. The majority of filings were in pharmaceutical, health and cosmetic products (6,145), agricultural products and services (5,403) and scientific research, information and communication technology (4,697).
Sustain momentum
IPOPHL director general Rowel Barba said: “The increase in the first half [of 2022] is reflective of the eased COVID-19 restrictions that reignited economic activities and IPOPHL’s amplified awareness and education initiatives.
“With our ongoing and upcoming programmes and projects to incentivise IP creation, protection and commercialisation, IPOPHL hopes to sustain momentum in inspiring Filipinos’ deeper appreciation of the benefits of IP.
“We also hope to encourage more innovative and creative intellectual endeavours this year to help propel a resilient, inclusive and faster recovery of our economy.”
Meanwhile, patents saw a tiny increase of 0.10%, with 1,949 applications, 90% of which are driven by non-residents. The most active fields for patent applications were in pharmaceuticals (1,272), organic fine chemistry (571), and biotechnology (370).
Utility model filings fell by 21.7% to 622 as resident filings, which contributed 94% to UM applications, dropped by 23.3% year-on-year.
Meanwhile industrial design filings fell by 8% to 539 filings.
Overall, filings for patents, trademarks, utility models and industrial designs in January to June this year totalled 23,410 filings. This is an increase of 1.6% from the 23,048 filings in the comparable period of 2021, and surpasses by nearly 2% the 22,968 registered in the first half of 2019—IPOPHL’s record year for IP applications.
In 2021, filings grew by 11.6% year-on-year to a total of 46,496, with the country recovering from the 2020 drop as lighter COVID-19 quarantine restrictions reignited business and IP-related activities.
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