Unease

Good intentions go far. But in the case of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), this can almost be considered a setback.

We are talking about the much-awaited Ease of Doing Business Law, which is meant to address the private sector’s qualms about red tape. Its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) will come out sometime in September.

Republic Act 11032 does this by essentially requiring the government to finish its transactions within a limited timetable. Even IPOPHL officials would admit this is for a good cause.

But there is a little hiccup, which, if not treated well, may develop into something worse down the line.

IPOPHL officials said the bill then initially covered only frontline business transactions, such as those related to starting and operating a business.

However, lawmakers expanded its coverage to include nonbusiness transactions during the bicameral committee, which the law broadly defines as anything that are not considered business-related.

Without any intervention, IPOPHL will be required to finish reviewing intellectual property applications in weeks time, even though such filings normally take six months up to a few years at best.

“We’re trying to address that part because we don’t want to reject patents right away. We don’t also want to approve immediately. All of this will entail no thinking at all,” said IPOPHL Director General Josephine Santiago.

“The sad part is we were not consulted,” she noted, saying that initial discussions did not include IPOPHL.

So how will IPOPHL solve this? She wouldn’t say. She just said they would to have to find away to address this through IRR. But what can IPOPHL do at this point? Santiago herself said the law did not spell out any exemptions. Howwill an IRR expound on what the law never said?

Ease? What ease? So many questions, so little time.