TAGUIG CITY -- The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said applications for intellectual property (IP) registration increased in the first half of the year as COVID-19 restrictions eased and IPOPHL intensified its IP awareness and education campaign. 

Filings for patents, trademarks, utility models (UM) and industrial designs (ID) in January to June this year totaled 23,410, increasing by 1.6% from the 23,048 filings in the comparable period of 2021, surpassing by nearly 2% the 22,968 registered in the first half of 2019 — IPOPHL’s record year for IP applications.

Trademarks registered the biggest increase at 2.9% with 20,300 filings, of which residents accounted for 62% or 12,514. Meanwhile, non-residents brought in 7,786.

Bulk of trademark filings were in pharmaceutical, health and cosmetic products (with 6,145 counts), followed by agricultural products and services (5,403) and scientific research, information and communication technology (4,697). 

Patents saw a 0.10% increase with 1,949 applications, 90% of which are driven by non-residents with 1,747 filings. The top fields for patent applications were in pharmaceuticals (1,272); organic fine chemistry (571); and biotechnology (370).

However, UM filings fell by 21.7% to 622 as resident filings, which contributed 94% to UM applications, dropped by 23.3% year-on-year.

Most of the UMs filed were in fields of food chemistry (211); other special machines (43); and information technology methods for management (39).

ID filings — shored up largely by non-resident filers with a 285 or 53% share — also slipped 8.02% to 539. Top industries for ID applications were in means of transport or hoisting (62); packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods (39); and furnishing (30).

Meanwhile, copyright deposits and recordation surged by 129% to 1,722. Most of the deposits fell under the categories of other literary, scholarly, scientific and artistics works (536); books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels, and other writings (386); and photographic works (191).

“The increase in the first half is reflective of the eased COVID-19 restrictions that reignited economic activities and IPOPHL’s amplified awareness and education initiatives,” Director General Rowel S. Barba said. 

“With our ongoing and upcoming programs and projects to incentivize IP creation, protection and commercialization, IPOPHL hopes to sustain momentum in inspiring Filipinos’ deeper appreciation of the benefits of IP. We also hope to encourage more innovative and creative intellectual endeavors this year to help propel a resilient, inclusive and faster recovery of our economy,” Barba added. (IPOPHL)