Intellectual Property Office slates info drive in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is bringing its education drive on intellectual property in Cebu this March.

IPOPHL announced the 2019 Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) is happening on March 18-22 at Radisson Blu Cebu, as it expands its education drive and reach out to IP practitioners in the Visayas.

Director general Josephine Santiago said this is the program’s first run outside Luzon and “will be an essential learning opportunity for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.”

She said the upcoming lecture series is a diverse offering of updates on IP legislation, strategic innovation on IP core processes and appeals,  and commerce-related concepts of IP.

Intellectual property processes, including litigation and the special rules and procedures on IP cases will be discussed.

Intellectual property is a game-changer of scientific innovation and creativity, and has been entrenched as a component of economic growth in the Philippine Development Plan (particularly in fields of science, technology, and innovation & expanding economic opportunities for industry and services).

The area of intellectual property is an increasingly popular field in legal practice that remains to be fully tapped by a new generation of lawyers.

With every sector, from manufacturing to banking, now being infused with technology, expertise in the field of intellectual property will complement law firms’ existing competencies in high-demand practice areas such as information technology and cyber law.

Intellectual property has been a salient feature of modern free trade agreements, both bilateral and multilateral ones, putting it in a prime intersection with trade law.

The lecture series will tackle topics such as the impact of new legislation (the Competition Law and the Data Privacy Act) on intellectual property, as well as enforcing one’s IP rights.