Intellectual property filings up 1.6% year on year in first half

FILINGS for intellectual property protection rose by 1.6% year on year in the first six months of 2022 amid a relaxation of quarantine restrictions, according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). 

In a statement on Thursday, IPOPHL said that filings for patents, trademarks, utility models (UM), and industrial designs (ID) during the period totaled 23,410, up from 23,048 a year earlier.

The first half total also exceeded the equivalent pre-pandemic total by nearly 2%. In the first half of 2019, filings amounted to 22,968.

“The increase in the first half is reflective of the eased coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions that reignited economic activity and IPOPHL’s amplified awareness and education initiatives,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said.

According to the agency, trademarks posted the largest increase during the period with growth of 2.9% to 20,300 filings. Residents of the Philippines accounted for 12,514 filings while non-residents filed 7,786 applications.

“Bulk of trademark filings were in pharmaceutical, health and cosmetic products (with 6,145 counts), followed by agricultural products and services (5,403) and scientific research, information and communication technology (4,697),” IPOPHL said.

It said patents posted a 0.10% improvement to 1,949 applications in the first half, of which 90% or 1,747 were filed by non-residents.

“The top fields for patent applications were in pharmaceuticals (1,272); organic fine chemistry (571); and biotechnology (370),” IPOPHL said.

ID filings, meanwhile, fell by 8.02% to 539.  

“Top industries for ID applications were in means of transport or hoisting (62); packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods (39); and furnishing (30),” IPOPHL said.

The agency added that UM filings in the first half of the year dropped by 21.7% to 622.

“Most of the UMs filed were in fields of food chemistry (211); other special machines (43); and information technology methods for management (39),” the IPOPHL said.

IPOPHL said copyright applications rose by 129% to 1,722, led by other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works (536); books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels, and other writings (386); and photographic works (191), IPOPHL said. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave