Intellectual property filings seen to hit record high

MANILA, Philippines — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is confident that the number of IP filings this year will exceed last year’s figures, relying on the positive trend recorded in the first 10 months.

“This year will be another record breaking year in terms of IP filings because fwe already have 41,815 from January to October up by nearly two percent from 41,022 for the same period last year,” IPOPHL director-general Rowel Barba said in a press conference.

Trademark filings accounted for the bulk of the filings at 35,538, an increase of  0.41 percent  from the 35,393 filings in the same period last year.

Barba shared that utility model filings posted the biggest increase during the period with 1,538 filings, a 37.2 percent increase from the  1,121 filings a year ago.

This was followed by industrial design filings with a 9.8 percent growth to 1,127 filings.

Similarly, filings for patents also increased by 3.7 percent to 3,612 filings.

Barba also shared that copyright deposits surged 114 percent in January to October to 6,022 from 2,821 a year ago.

Asked if IP filings would surpass last year’s 48,259 filings, Barba said they are hopeful given the registered increase in the 10 months of the year.

With the uptrend in IP filings, Barba said he has directed the agency’s bureau to further increase the number of filings in 2024.

“There should be growth of at least 10 percent from this year’s performance,” Barba said.

The IPOPHL official said the continued IP awareness initiatives would continue to drive the growth of IP filings next year.

Barba said that the IPOPHL was able to conduct 316 webinars and research conferences this year.