Philippines chosen for inventor assistance program

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is one of three pilot countries chosen by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to be part of their new joint initiative called the inventor assistance program.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. said the country’s inclusion in the WEF-WIPO inventor assistance program would allow Filipino inventors to access free legal advice on international patenting.

“These programs will encourage Filipino inventors to bring their technologies to the world,” Cristobal said.

Through the inventor assistance program, inventors from member countries would be given free legal advice from patent attorneys to protect their inventions, WIPO deputy director general John Sandage said.

Sandage said the free legal advice would rid inventors of the exorbitant costs of filing patent applications.

He said the Philippines, Colombia and Morocco are the first three countries that qualified to be members of the inventor assistance program.

The inventor assistance program was established by WEF and WIPO to make the intellectual property (IP) system more accessible to financially-strapped inventors of technologies and concepts that show potential.

Membership is open to developing countries and patent attorneys who accept the guiding principles of the program.

The DTI said qualifying countries, inventors and companies would be accepted as members once they agree to the terms of the guiding principles drawn up for program.

Under the guiding principles of the inventor assistance program, governments that become members are expected to “actively participate in the local implementation and tailoring of the program to the local needs and practice of inventors and qualified IP counsel in their country, and to help promote the program inside the country, including outreach efforts to inform inventors of the program’s existence and eligibility criteria.”

Cristobal said significant changes have already been made by the government for the Philippine IP system over the past 15 years.

“From a purely regulatory agency, it has evolved into one that espouses an orientation that capitalizes on the development aspects of IP,” he said.

“I recall as early as 2005, during my term as director general of IPOPHL, we already saw the importance of making IP relevant to the economic well being of the country,” Cristobal added.