3rd IP Youth Camp in Cebu for the Young IP Advocates

IPOPHL Holds IP Youth Camp In Time For APEC Cebu Hosting 

19 August 2015, Cebu City, Philippines

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) brings the 3^rd Intellectual Property (IP) Youth Camp to Cebu City in time for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation IP Rights Experts’ Group (APEC-IPEG) meeting from 22 -23 August 2015.

This is the first time that the IP Youth Camp is held outside of Metro Manila and with the majority of the participants coming from science and technology and private secondary schools in the Cebu province. The IPOPHL will also fly select alumni from the previous IP Youth Camps in Metro Manila to Cebu to allow the students to meet, collaborate and share experiences.

The IP Youth Advocates Program IPOPHL began in 2013 with the aim of enabling secondary school students understand the role of IP in nation-building. From the  initial roster of three schools in 2013, the number of participating schools has expanded to seven in Metro Manila alone, producing a total of 25 students in 2014 who are now called IPOPHL’s Young IP Advocates (YIPA) in their respective schools.

“By bringing the IPOPHL’s IP Youth Advocates program to Cebu in time for APEC-IPEG, we are not only expanding the reach of the program, but also sharing one of our most successful IP awareness and education initiatives to our partner APEC economies. The program taps into the creativeness and innovativeness of our youths. Our vision is to make this as an instrument for harnessing creativity, innovation and respect for IP rights among our young people who are the future of our country,” said Atty. Allan B. Gepty, Deputy Director General/Officer-In-Charge of IPOPHL and head of the Philippine APEC-IPEG delegation.

The two-day IP Youth Camp, which starts today, will carry out various exciting activities to demystify IP and will highlight the importance of IP in their daily lives and emphasize the value of respect for IP. Out of the learning experiences, the participants will be directed to come up with a concrete plan of action on how they can share the learnings to their schoolmates. 

After the Youth Camp, the Cebu participants will be presented officially as IP Advocates. They will have the opportunity to take their oath as Young IP Advocates before the APEC-IPEG delegates on 22 August.

IP education and awareness for the youth is one of the priority initiatives of the Philippines at APEC. 

words:  Emmelina Masanque, IPOPHL IDTD

PATENT OWNERS ADVISED TO UPDATE ANNUITIES PAYMENT TO PRESERVE INVENTIONS AND CREATIONS

Patent licensing is an income generating business for intellectual property owners, inventors or research and development facilities which they can use to earn revenues. Royalty fees derived from the license agreements for patents can be maximized within the twenty (20) year legal lifetime of the patent.

A patent owner should consider his patents as part of his major assets. However, patents are intangible assets, but in terms of value, they cannot be belittled. Finding out a patent’s value can be mind-blowing. As such, like any property, e.g. a car that needs to be well maintained or a financial investment that needs to be properly managed, patents also need to be maintained.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL) has given it’s all out support for the protection of Intellectual Property rights, e.g. the rights of Patent owners. As a government agency, the IPOPHIL works to preserve and protect innovations, inventions, and creations of the Patent owners. With its mandate as a protector of intellectual property rights, the IPOPHIL has continuously improved its services. As an added-value-service, the agency makes sure that the Patent owners would be reminded periodically on payments of annuities to maintain ownership of their respective Patent. Through the years as records show,  it has been observed, that Patent owners fail to maintain ownership of their Patents or Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). It would appear that there are patent owners who simply lose interest or just simply forget to maintain their patents. From year 2012 to 2014, the percentage of lapsed patents was recorded at 29% versus total applications and registered with the Bureau of Patents.

Per IP Code of the Philippines, “If the annual fee is not paid, the patent application shall be deemed withdrawn or the patent shall be considered as lapsed from the day following the expiration of the period within which the annual fee was due.” For those Patent owners who inadvertently neglected to pay for the maintenance service of the IPOPHIL on their Patent, they are provided a grace period. “A grace period of six (6) months shall be granted for the payment of the annual fee, upon payment of the prescribed surcharge for delayed payment.” As such, owners of lapsed Patents due to non-payment of annuity, are given owners ample time to redeem their IPR upon full payment of the required annuity balances and surcharge.

It is important for Patent Owners to realize that when they maintain ownership of said IPR, they can earn income from it in many ways like licensing or franchising, joint venture projects, technology transfer, and even selling the patents itself,  just like selling a Real Estate Property.  As Patent owners, it would be much easier to maintain your patent ownership than feeling sorry for abandoning it. It would be one big missed opportunity when, some time later, you learn that someone else is benefitting from your lost IPR. By then, you can do nothing legally about it.  

Patent Owners are advised to consult or acquire the services of an IP Law Professional or Practitioner in order to learn more on how to maximize your IPR ownership. You may also visit www.ipophil.gov.ph or call 238-6300 for more details about your Patent maintenance, schedule of annuity payments, benefits, and advantages.

words:  Froilan T. Buizon and Maria Minda G. del Rio, IPO DITTB