HOW DOES THE PHILIPPINES COMPARE WITH OTHER ASIAN ECONOMIES IN TERMS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION?

THE International Intellectual Property (IP) index examines an economy’s IP infrastructure using 45 indicators deemed “critical to the growth of effective IP systems.” The indicators are lumped into eight categories of IP protection: patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, commercialization of IP assets, enforcement, systemic efficiency, and membership and ratification of international treaties. Released earlier this month by the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center, the 2019 edition of the index ranked the Philippines 37th out of 50 economies, a slight improvement from 38th spot on the previous list. The report said the Philippines’ key strengths include measures to facilitate trademark registration that will be introduced by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines; presence of research and development tax incentives; draft amendments to the IP Code that would strengthen sanctions on violations of the law; growing specialization and capacity building (such as in administrative IP courts) and the fact the “most basic IP rights” are protected under legislation. On the other hand, the Philippines’ key weaknesses include barriers to licensing and technology transfer, significant gaps in life sciences and content-related IP rights, insufficient digital protection and rampant online piracy.