Intellectual property Code

(R.A. No. 8293)

1. State Policies

a) The state recognizes that an effective intellectual property and industrial property system i: (1) vital to the
development of domestic and creative activity; (2) facilities transfers of technology; (3) attracts foreign
investments; and (4) insures market access for our products (sec. 2, Intellectual Property Code).
b) The state likewise recognizes that the use of intellectual property bears social function.
c) It is also a State policy to streamline administrations of administrative procedures concerning intellectual
property, liberalize registration of transfer of technology, and enhance the enforcement of Intellectual property
rights.
d) Protection of intellectual property is likewise mandated by the constitution. Section 13 of Article XIV of
Constitution provides that the: “State shall protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientist, investors artists,
and other gifted citizen to their intellectual property and creations, particularly when beneficial to the people, for
such period as may be provided by law”.
e) Treaties are part of our laws, hence various provisions of treaties are incorporated in the IPC. For instance, the
enactment of the IPC is partly the result of the mandate of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization and the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS .

2. The term “Intellectual Property” Consists of (Sec. 4.1, IPC):

a) Copyright and related rights;

b) Trademarks and Service marks;
c) Patents
d) Geographic Indications;
e) Layout Design (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits;
f) Protection of Undisclosed Information; and
g) Industrial designs

2.02. Concepts

a) Geographic Indication – indications which identify a good as originating in the territory or a region or locally in
that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of the goods is essentially attributable to
its geographical origin (Sec. 3, Art. 22[1], TRIPS for short). Example; Indications which identify wine as coming
from a specific region in France.
b) Protection of Undisclosed Information – Natural and legal persons shall have the possibility of preventing
information lawfully within their control from being disclosed to, acquired by; or used by others without their
consent in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices (i.e., breach of contracts, breach of confidence,
fraudulent inducement, etc.) so long as the information:
1. Is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its
components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal
with the kinds of information in question;
2. Has commercial value because it is secret; and
3. Has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the persons lawfully in control of the
information, to keep it secret (Sec. 7, Art. 39 [2], TRIPS).
c) Trademark, copyright and patents are different intellectual property rights that cannot be interchanged with one
another. A trademark is any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods (trademark) or (service mark) of an
enterprise and shall include a stamped or marked container of goods. In relation thereto, a trade name means the
name or designation identifying or distinguishing an enterprise. Meanwhile , the scope of a copyright is confined
to literary and artistic works which are original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain protected
from the moment of creation. Patentable inventions, on the other hand, refer to any technical solution of a
problem in any field of human activity which is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable (Kho
vs. CA, G.R. No. 115758, march 11, 2002).
 d) Utility model – models of implement or tools of any industrial product even if not possessed of the quality of
invention but which is of “practical utility.”

e) Industrial design – any composition of lines or colors or any three-dimensional form, whether or not associated
with lines or colors (Sec. 112, ICP).

f) “Drugs and Medicines” – refer to any chemical compound or biological substance, other than food, intended for
use in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of disease in humans or animals (Sec. 4 (c), R.A No. 9502, otherwise
known as Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality medicine Act of 2008).

3. International Law Related Provisions

3.01. RECIPROCITY (Sec. 3, IPC)

Any person who is a national or who is domiciled or has a real and effective industrial establishment in a country
which is: (1) a party to any convention, treaty, or agreement relating to intellectual property rights or the repression of
unfair competition to which the Philippines is also a party, or (2) extends reciprocal rights to nationals of the Philippines
by law, shall be entitled to benefits to the extent necessary to give effect to any provision of such convention, treaty, or
reciprocal law, in addition to the rights to which any owner of an intellectual property right is otherwise entitled by this
act.

3.02, National Treatment

Each member of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) shall accord to
nationals of the other members no less favorable than that it accords it own nationals with regard to the protection of
intellectual property (Art. 3, TRIPS).

3.03 Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

With regard to the protection of intellectual property, any advantage , favour, privilege or immunity granted by a
Member to the nationals of any other country shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the nationals of all
others members of WTO’s TRIPS 9Art. 4, TRIPS).

4.

5. COPYRIGHT

5.02. Civil Code Provision

Intellectual creation is one of the modes of acquiring ownership under the Civil Code.

a) The following persons acquire ownership by intellectual creation;

1. The author with regard to his literary, dramatic, legal, philosophical, scientific or other work;
2. The composer, as to his musical composition;
3. The painter, sculptor, or other artist, with respect to the product of his art;
4. The scientist or technologist or any other person with regard to his discovery or invention (Art.721,
NCC).
b) Letters and other private communications in writing are owned by the person to whom they are addressed and
delivered, but they cannot be published or disseminated without the consent of the writer or his heirs (Art. 723,
NCC).

5.03.When rights over copyrights are conferred

Rights over copyrights are conferred from the moment of creation (Sec. 172.1, IPC). The work is deemed created if
something original is expressed in a fixed manner.
5.04. Who owns the copyright?

a) One creator – creator, his heirs or assigns owns copyright.

b) Joint creation – co-authors shall be the original owners of the copyright and in the absence of agreement, their
rights shall be governed by the rules and co-ownership.
Exception; work of joint authorship consists of parts that can be used separately and the author of each part
can be identified, the author of each part shall be the original owner of the copyright in the part that he has
created.
c) Commissioned work – the person commissioning owns the work; ownership of copyright remains with the
creator, unless there is a written stipulation to the contrary.
d) Audio-visual work – producer for purposes of exhibition; for all other purposes; the producer, the author of the
scenario, the composer, the author of the work are the owners.
e) Pseudonymous and anonymous works – unless the author is undisputably known, the publisher shall be
presumed to be the representative of the author (sec.178 and 179, IPC).
f) Employee’s work during course of employment –employer, if the result of regular functions or duties but the
employee owns it if it is not part of his duties.

5.05. D0uration of Copyright (sec.213 and 214, ICP)

a) Literary artistic works and derivative works – during the lifetime of the creator and for fifty (50) years after his
death.
b) Joint creation – the economic rights shall be protected during the life of the last surviving author and for fifty (50)
years the death of the last surviving author.
c) Pseudonymous and anonymous works – till the end of for fifty (50) years duration commences from January 1
following the date of publication.
d) Work of applied art – twenty-five (25) years from the date of making.
e) Photographic works – fifty (50) years from the publication of the work or from making if unpublished (the same
term is given to audio-visual works produced by the photography or analogous processes).
f) Broadcast – twenty (20) years from the date of broadcast.

5.06. Copyrightable Objects

a) Literary and artistic works;

1. Books, pamphlets, articles and other writing;
2. Periodicals and newspaper;
3. kLectures, sermons, addresses, dissertations prepared for oral delivery, whether or not reduced in writing
or other material form;
4. Letters;
5. Dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions; choreographic works or entertainment in dumb shows;
6. Musical compositions, with or without words;
7. Works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving, lithography or other works of art; models
or designs for works of art;
8. Original ornamental designs or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an
industrial design, and other works of applied art;
9. Illustrations, amps, plans, sketches, charts and three (3) dimensional works relative to geography,
topography woks relative to geography, topography, architecture or science;
10. Drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character;
11. Photographic works including works produced by a process analogous to photography; lantern slides;