MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ patent office said Wednesday it will wait and see how the coronavirus outbreak will affect the filings for intellectual property protection in the country, as reports from their counterparts abroad offer a mixed picture of the situation.
In a statement, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director-General Rowel Barba said they are still studying the experiences of patent offices in other countries so they can come up with a complete assessment by June this year.
Barba said some countries saw a drop in filings amid contagion fears and wide-ranging lockdowns. Meanwhile, there was a surge in filings elsewhere, with businesses trying to ride on the popularity of the infamous virus by associating their trading names with “corona.”
“We are closely monitoring experiences in other countries to get a glimpse of what to expect,” he said.
In 2019, the IPOPHL saw a 10% annual increase in applications for intellectual property protection to a record-high of 47,282, boosted by 10% year-on-year growth in trademark registrations.
By country of origin, the United States, Japan and China were the top filers last year, IPOPHL data showed.
“While we hope we could sustain the filings growth, we are still weighing how the COVID-19 outbreak will influence filing activities in the Philippines,” Barba said.