Screengrab of IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba and INTA President Tiki Dare during the virtual ceremony last June 22 (Graphic from IPOPHL)
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the International Trademark Association (INTA) to fight counterfeiting by improving the capacities and awareness of the youth, businesses, online platforms and national authorities.
The MOU was signed by IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba and INTA President Tiki Dare through a virtual ceremony last June 22.
“We are thankful to INTA for always standing with IPOPHL in the past years. But today, we elevate our collaborative relations to a more solid partnership where we will be pursuing a multi-pronged strategy on capacity building, awareness, and global dialogue,” Barba said.
Under the MOU, INTA will help IPOPHL capacitate its examiners in evaluating emerging products in designs; trademarks; certification marks; non-traditional marks; famous and well-known marks to prevent confusing similarity among marks.
Both will also capacitate Customs to improve cross-border cooperation, seizures and destruction procedures; online platforms to adopt voluntary best practices in preventing and addressing online counterfeit trade: national enforcement authorities and brand owners to streamline coordination and swiftly intercept counterfeits; and court judges to broaden their knowledge on IP and keep abreast with international legal viewpoints on IP cases.
On raising awareness, IPOPHL and INTA will be targeting the youth, including those out of school.
“Our young people are a key audience in building a nationwide culture of respect for intellectual property (IP). We hope we can connect with the youth effectively and in a way that would capture their interest in creativity, innovation and all things IP,” Barba said.
IPOPHL and INTA’s awareness campaign will also benefit local business associations to equip them, especially MSMEs, with cost-effective brand management practices and global protection strategies.
Through the partnership, INTA vowed to bolster IPOPHL’s engagement with its global members through its numerous events, including INTA’s Annual Meeting where IPOPHL can share its best practices and learn as well from countries more experienced in enforcement.
The group also commits to support IPOPHL in its lead role at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Working Group on IP Cooperation (AWGIPC) and the ASEAN Network of IP Enforcement Experts (ANIEE) in programs relating to trademark protection.
INTA’s Dare lauded IPOPHL for being “a leading IP authority and true frontliner in Southeast Asia,” citing IPOPHL’s lead role in implementing 13 out of 19 initiatives in the ASEAN IP Rights Action Plan 2016 – 2025.
Dare also commended the Philippines as a whole for its “innovative and out-of-the-box thinking” in addressing challenges as demonstrated by its Supreme Court’s move to streamline IP prosecution rules in 2020 and the ongoing efforts at the legislative to amend its 1997 IP Code.
INTA is a global association of 7,200 brand owners and professionals dedicated to developing and promoting wider adoption of trademark protection best practices with the end goal of fostering consumer trust, innovations and economic prosperity.
The MOU work plan will be implemented until end-2022 and will be assessed thereafter to identify areas that need further work and potentially new concerns that demand action from both parties.