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MANILA, Philippines — The government is launching the P122-million Juan Thousand Invention (JTI) as a national subsidy strategy for encouraging intellectual property (IP) applications essential in wealth generation.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is opening a subsidy program in order to boost development of IP-protected technologies. This should prevent more foreign piracies which in the past deprived the Philippine economy of much wealth.
“When you have a right to technology, investors will come in. Our inventors don’t have the money yet, so we’re investing in them. We will grant patents for free for the first 1,000 patents,” said Lawyer Andrew Michael S. Ong, IPO-Philippines director general in an interview.
The IP subsidy program has long been adopted by emerging and developed economies.
“It’s some kind of a DSWD (social welfare) effort. (But) China has patent subsidy up to this day. Even the US has patent subsidy. It’s something we’d like to start off the first 1,000,” he said.
While IPO will spend P122 million for this first phase, it expects Filipino philanthropists to finance the next 1,000 patents to be filed in the country.
It is unfortunate that only two to five percent of patents filed in the Philippines are Filipino-owned as other nationalities take advantage of protecting their rights to commercialize a product in the Philippine market.
The subsidy entails an amount of around P240,000 per patent that a technology has to spend over the first 15 years of a patent’s 20-year life. The patent holder just has to pay the last five years.
There is already a Patent No. 1 application which is that of the University of San Carlos’s biofuel project, Ong said.
Out of total patent filing of 40,000-50,000, those owned by Filipinos count only to 250 to 260.
Still, the figures must be improving. Out of the present 52 patents on herbal products, only two are from locals, the rest are foreign filings.
“The numbers are improving. After 52, we have 76 pending. They’re still under examination. But you can see a big difference. This is a very good news,” he said.
Protecting IP assets, rather than just capital or cash-based assets, is important in wealth creation and in raising Philippines’ competitiveness.
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By: Melody Aguiba
Source: Manila Bulletin, March 23, 2012
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