| Chairman |
| Mr. Jesus B. Varela |
| PCCI Secretariat |
| Ms. Cheska Alvarez |
Intellectual Property
Promoting understanding and appreciation of intellectual property rights (IPR) continues to be the main advocacy of the IP Committee. To carry out this advocacy, the Committee, in partnership with the Intellectual Property Office-Philippines (IPO-Phil) launched the Alfredo M. Yao (AMY) IP Awards, which recognizes Filipino-owned IPR owners of patents, utility models, industrial designs (and trademarks) that have contributed or have the potential to contribute to economic growth and development. The AMY IP Awards is organized annually since 2009.
With a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with IPO-Phil, the Committee continues to undertake information education campaign activities; intellectual property became among the topics presented and discussed in the Area Business Conferences this year.
The Committee staunchly supports the Philippines’ accession to the Madrid Protocol, which offers trademark owners the possibility of seeking protection for their trademarks in signatory countries.
Philippines is Now a Member of the Madrid Protocol
The Republic of the Philippines is now a member of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol) with the deposit of the instrument of accession with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on 25 April 2012. President Noynoy Aquino signed the instrument of accession on 27 March 2012.
The Philippines is the first country to accede this year and is the 85th Contracting Party to the Protocol.
The Madrid Protocol is a filing system that facilitates the registration of marks in several countries through a single application filed with the IPOPHL. It simplifies the protection of marks outside the Philippines and reduces the cost of registration. The major trading partners of the Philippines—Japan, United States of America, People’s Republic of China, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Germany—are all members of the Madrid Protocol.
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PCCI, IPO Hold First Workshop on Trademark Application Process for Business for Metro Manila Chambers
IPOPHL and PCCI signed a Declaration of Commitment last October 14, 2010, to work in partnership in integrating the promotion of the intellectual property (IP) system and all IP-related matters into PCCI’s developmental goals and programs.
The first project to concretize the aforementioned partnership involves the creation of IP-Business Development Units within PCCI’s Regional Chambers. In the project’s initial phase, the IP-BDUs shall serve as receiving offices of trademark applications of PCCI members. The IP-BDUs shall also provide IP advisory services along the areas of IP asset creation, protection and commercialization.
To build the competencies of potential IP advocates, a Workshop on the Trademark Application Process for Business was conducted last May 2-3, 2012 at the IPOPHL multi-purpose hall for members of PCCI chambers from the National Capital Region (NCR).
Sixteen (16) participants from PCCI Valenzuela, PCCI Marikina, PCCI Quezon City, PCCI Caloocan, PCCI Las Piñas, Quezon City Chamber, and the PCCI Secretariat attended the one and a half-day workshop.