Applications for intellectual property (IP) registration filed at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) increased by 4.4% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2022.
January to September filings for trademarks, patents, utility models (UMs) and industrial designs (IDs) stood at 36,709, expanding from 35,172 in the same period in 2021. The nine-month total books in a 3.1% growth over filings in the first months of 2019.
“The latest figures show impressive recovery in IP filings as we are on track to exceeding the pre-pandemic volume. This is largely driven by increased economic activities as several areas where quarantine restrictions have de-escalated to their laxest yet,” Director General Rowel S. Barba said while citing the Philippine economy’s remarkable average growth of 7.8% in the first nine months of the year, a faster growth compared to the average GDP of 5.1% in January to September 2021.
Pushing the growth were trademark filings which grew by 5.6% to 31,665. Residents accounted for 62% or 19,762.
Patent filings climbed 2.3% to 3,116, with non-residents contributing 90% or 2,807.
Industrial designs (ID), which protect the unique appearance of a product, inched up 1% to 923. The biggest boost came from non-residents at a 56% share or 516.
However, utility models (UM), which provide patent-like protection at a shorter duration and with a less rigorous application process, contracted by 17.2% to 1,005, with residents making up 96% or 960.
“As IPOPHL also ensured strong presence in various channels to help more Filipinos protect their IP, we are confident in maintaining our recovery momentum throughout the rest of 2022,” Barba added, noting that IPOPHL has been exceeding various targets on IP awareness for the year, such as in terms of the number of learning events held, participants involved and media presence.
The bulk of trademark filings were in pharmaceuticals, health, cosmetics (with a 19.0% share), followed by agricultural products and services (16.8%) and scientific research, information and communication technology (14.5%).
Patent filings were concentrated on pharmaceuticals (29.3%); organic fine chemistry (11.6%) and biotechnology (8.6%).
In ID applications, means of transport or hoisting contributed the most (18.7%), followed by packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods (9.1%) and furnishing (8.4%).
Most UM applications were in food chemistry (46.8%); other special machines (9.1%) and IT methods for management (4.4%).
Meanwhile, registrations for copyright jumped 69.1% to 2,602, mostly driven by books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels and other writings (29%); other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works (27.8%); and drawings, paintings, architectural works, sculpture, engraving, prints, lithography or other works of art, models or designs for works of art (9.3%).