Filipino invention patenting in RP low vs foreign firms

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net IN THE LAST six years, only 96 Filipino inventions have been granted patents by the Philippine Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHIL) out of over 8,000 inventions patented in the country. The sad part here is that very few Filipino inventors, engineers and developers know the processes that could protect their inventions. In his presentation during an intellectual property forum at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, IPOPHIL Bureau of Patents Director Epifanio Rey Evasco said the lack of knowledge on local patenting and the requirements for patenting have discouraged Filipino innovators from filing for patents. What is worse is that some of the products that have commercial potential are taken by entrepreneurs who file for patents for themselves. “Inventors are not always businessmen and they could be exploited,” Evasco said. Evasco said that majority of the Filipino inventions that did get successfully patented were in the mechanical field, some of which are used for direct commercial products or manufacturing. Evasco noted that while patents granted locally are not always protected abroad, the IPOPHIL is already a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, a multi-nation entity that monitors and reviews the patent filings of its 130 member-countries. “Since we are a member, we can help the patent filer to protect their inventions in other countries as long as they are a member of PTC. This already gives the Filipino inventor a leverage to become a world-class inventor,” Evasco. Evasco said one of the goals of IPOPHIL is to get information across to Filipino inventors through different organizations. One of these groups is the Technology Application and Promotion Institute, which assists Filipino inventors and innovators regarding patent applications. He also said IPOPHIL is already working to speed up the processing of patent filings. He noted that the agency receives at least 20 patent filings per day, though the majority of these are either rejected or withdrawn. “We have about 50 patent reviewers and each one is handling about 100 patent filings. Our goal is to process a patent within six months of filing,” Evasco said, adding that normally a patent filing is granted within four-and-a-half years.