For 10th year, Philippines not in IPR watch list

MANILA, Philippines — For the 10th consecutive year, the Philippines has continued to keep it self out of the United States government’s list of countries saddled with intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement problems.

Released annually, the Special 301 Report of the US Trade Representative (USTR) is a review of the state of global IP protection and enforcement.

In this year’s edition, the Philippines once again steered clear of being included in the priority watch list of countries with IP concerns.

“The country’s continued exclusion from the USTR’s list of countries with major IP concerns reflects wins from the awareness and regulatory efforts of the IP Office of the Philippines,” IPOPHL director general Rowel Barba said.

“It also shows our close coordination with members of the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights and other stakeholders and partners as we work to become a greater example to the global IP community,” he added.

However, the report noted that the Philippines is one of the leading sources of counterfeit medicines.

Citing a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and European Union Intellectual Property Office, the USTR said the Philippines, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam are the leading sources of counterfeit medicines distributed globally.

Barba, though, stands to challenge the published report.

“We hope they could obtain more recent available data to reflect the enforcement efforts taken after the 2014 to 2016 data provided by the OECD which was the basis of the USTR finding,” he said.

The report also mentioned slow opposition or cancellation proceedings in the Philippines.

In response, Barba said IPOPHL is working to implement new rules to further reduce the total process timeline.

On the concern cited in the report on the EU’s expansion of its Geographical Indications (GI) system among trading partners as it significantly undermines trademarks held by US producers and limits market access of goods that rely on the use of common names, such as parmesan or feta, Barba gave assurance that IPOPHL will not grant automatic GI protection.

He said every GI application will undergo search, examination and publication.