Nu6 by RBF, Opportunity Seizing from Unregistered Patents In RP

2^nd NU 6 by RBF 100125

A New Way to Look for a Worthy New Product Ventures

One of the reasons why China has grown so fast is their ability to imitate. And now they are one of the leading countries with the most number of innovations. Then why don't we follow what they have done and imitate too? Before you raise your eyebrow let me expound a bit.

Do you know that it is legal to locally manufacture a product patented in other countries but is not patented here in the Philippines? All you need to do is wait for one year after the date of filing for the patent application of the invented product in other countries. If after one year this product is not filed at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Philippines, it is legally allowed to manufacture and market the product locally here in our country. And it is also allowed to market it in other countries where it is not IP protected.

I think this was one of the reasons why Chinese companies in China were able to imitate patents and designs and have not been charged guilty in courts. I also think this is the reason why IP registrations in China have increased by roughly 35% every year. Because inventors/innovators and designers are afraid that other Chinese companies will imitate their inventions and designs.

In the Philippines, there are only 1,000 to 2,000, (on the average) total registered patents, utility models and industrial designs from domestic and foreign applications out of almost a million new patents that are published in the internet every year.  To date there are already over 70 million patents registered all over the world.

How can we use this to our advantage? For existing and new entrepreneurs out there who does not have the capability to do research and development, you can search for profit-making products abroad that are not patented here in the Philippines after a year it was published. If you think (or based on your analysis) that this product would also be saleable here, then you can manufacture and market it here. After all, just targeting one fourth or say maybe 10% of the 90 million population of Filipinos as your market is not so bad. But of course it would be much better if you would innovate or improve the product a little and utilize our existing local materials as your raw material.

But where will you get the information for the registered patents in the Philippines? All registered patents can be viewed through the Patent Search of IPO Phils. through this website: (http://patents.ipophil.gov.ph/patsearch2/) and international patent registrations are found in the website of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) through this site: (http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/ ) and other sites like the Espacenet (http://gb.espacenet.com/search97cgi/s97_cgi.exe?Action=FormGen&Template=gb/en/quick.hts) and USPTO (http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html). These sites can be accessed freely by anyone.  But the only drawback in getting information from these sites is how you would decipher the exact details since patent experts use unique terms so that their inventions will not be easily figured out. Luckily, there are Innovation Technology Support Offices (ITSO) that are currently being created, where you can get assistance from for patent searching, patent drafting and patent application. These ITSOs can be found in many institutions like ADMU, DLSU, UP, MAPUA, UST, Don Bosco College, TUP, PUP, TIP, EARIST, Benguet State Univ., Bicol Univ., some DOST agencies, and many more in Luzon and some universities and institutions in Visayas and Mindanao. The ITSOs also use a software which allows them to view the details of the registered Intellectual Property Rights.

Before you get confused let me just elaborate a little on the types of intellectual properties and their protection.

Intellectual Property or IP is a certain legal rights that people hold over their creations such as inventions, works of art, writing, designs, ideas, music or choreography. In order to protect your rights over your creations you should register them at IPO Phils. or if you want worldwide protection you can register it in other countries' IP Office within one year from the date of filing at IPO Phils. In our country the following are the types of IP:

1. Patents

Patents are legal property rights applied to inventions such as processes, products, machines, manufacturing designs, biological discoveries, or "compositions of matter" that is new (meaning it is never been done before), inventive and useful. Once you filed your patent application in IPO, you will have 20 years of IP protection before it becomes available for everybody to use. This is non renewable after 20 years thus it is expected that you have earned your ROI and have already gained profit from the sales of this product or invention.

2. Utility Model (UM)

UM also called "petty" patents in other counties is an IP protection for innovations or improvements done on existing products or machines, implements, tools, composition or process that would still meet the inventive threshold required for standard patent application. It must be practical, novel and has an industrial applicability. The protection for the Utility Models is only 7 years from the date of filing and is none renewable.

3. Industrial Design

Design is all about the way an object looks, its shape or its visual appeal. This could consist of three-dimensional or two dimensional features of an item. The protection for Industrial design mainly covers the aesthetic aspect of the article. It does not include the technical features of the item to which it is applied. IP protection for Industrial Design is 5 years from the filing date of the application and may be renewed for not more than two (2) consecutive periods of five (5) years each.

4. Trademarks

Trademarks include any words, phrases, symbols, logos, signs, or a combination thereof that are used in association with a particular brand or good in order to distinguish it from other products of that industry. Trademarks are used for identification purposes, and are legally protected once they have been registered with the IPO Phils. Just like the previous types of IP described above IP protection for trademarks is territorial. You need to register it in other countries where you want your trademark to be protected within one year upon the date of filing for IP protection. Trademark protection is renewable every 10 years.

5. Copyrights

A copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects the original authors of both published and unpublished creations. This "original creation" refers to literary, scientific and artistic domain such as books and other writings, musical works, films, paintings and other works, and computer programs.  Copyright protection for the original and derivative works of the author registered in IPO Philippines gives the rights of ownership for the originator throughout his life plus 50 years after his death. In other countries such as US and EU countries copyright protection is plus 70 years after the death of the originator. Copyright protection is recognized worldwide.

                The details for the above types of Intellectual Property Rights are found in the IPO's website which is noted down as my source and other website of Intellectual Property Offices in other countries which you can look up in google in order to be familiar with their IP laws.

                Since there are only a few IPs being filed here in our country, we can grab the opportunity to look for valuable and commerciable products which we could venture into that are not patented here so that it could benefit our country and our fellow Filipinos.  But let me just clarify that once the product is given IP protection in other countries, you can no longer register it here for IP protection. So I would suggest to improve or innovate a little on the existing products so that you could still apply for a Utility Model which gives you 7 years protection.

                We would always complain that inventions of Filipino inventors have been copied and produced abroad. It's about time that we also exploit this opportunity of imitating, producing and selling it here and in other countries so long as it is legally allowed. With our limited resources and government support in R&D and to our inventors, we might as well look at the opportunities which are available in the web.  

Fighting fire with fire.  Exploiting legal loopholes.  Hmmmm 4.0

Source: http://www.ipophil.gov.ph/