The Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines or IPC, Republic Act No.

8293 was signed into law on

June 6, 1997, and came into effect on January 1, 1998, to protect and secure the exclusive rights of
scientists, inventors, artists and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property and creation.
According to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), a total of 135 intellectual
property (IP) violation reports have been made in the first nine months of the year 2020, surpassing the
129 received in the previous five years up to 2019.
51 or about 38% involved unauthorized use of copyright works, followed by counterfeit complaints and
reports at about 43 or 32% and piracy at about 41 or 30%.
Most of the violators were operating online wherein 53 or 67% were on Facebook; 7 or 9% on the Less
Popular Websites Category; seven or 9% on Shopee; six or 8% on Lazada; and three or 4% on YouTube.
As stated in the Act, all acts of infringement include the act of stealing, modifying, redistributing one’s
own original work and registered marks without due permission or recognition of its owner. Any person,
group or organization who commits an infringement or benefits from one’s infringing activity will be held
liable for imprisonment of one to nine years plus a fine ranging on fifty thousand to one million and 500
thousand pesos depending on the number of offenses.
Therefore, to protect your original works of authorship or intellectual property, the use of patents,
trademark and copyright are established in this Act to prevent unauthorized infringement regarding one’s
intellectual property.
A patent is a legal document given by the government that gives the inventor exclusive rights to an
invention. The term of protection for a Patent is 20 years from the date of filing in the Philippines, with no
possibility of renewal. To qualify for patent protection, an invention must be a product, process or method
which is new, inventive, and useful.
Copyrights protect original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium such as paintings,
photos, musical compositions, books, computer programs, movies, architectural works, and plays.
Copyrights protect expression and never ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts,
principles, or discoveries.
A trademark protects registered marks that distinguish the goods or services of an enterprise. Trademark
registration has a term of ten years and may be renewed for another ten years when registrant files
Declaration of Use within three years from date of filing of application pursuant to the provisions of the
law.
Understanding the different types of intellectual property is an important knowledge that all in-house
counsel should master. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are valuable assets of the
company and understanding how they work and how they are created is critical to knowing how to protect
them.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) was established through this Act to
administer and implement the laws regarding intellectual property rights as stated. It composes of the
following: Bureau of Patents, Bureau of Trademarks, Bureau of Legal Affairs, Bureau of Copyright and
Related Rights, Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau, Management Information
Services and EDP Bureau and Administrative, Financial and Human Resource Development Service
Bureau.