Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) Director General Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr. recently met with Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno to discuss joint priority programs and activities for the Judiciary and IP Philippines to protect and promote intellectual property in the country.
During the meeting, Director General Cristobal and Chief Justice Puno identified the following as priority programs: (1) capacity building or continuing training for commercial court judges on intellectual property; (2) development of bench book on intellectual property and; (3) technology program for judges.
“The advocacy for specialized IP training for judges and the establishment of special IP Courts is gaining ground. This is largely due to the leadership of the Supreme Court that appreciates the relationship of intellectual property and economics,” said Director General Cristobal, who also serves as a member of the Supreme Court’s Sub Committee. “We are currently developing a program for judges newly assigned to the commercial courts, and planning successive trainings of these judges at least twice a year,” he added.
Under capacity building and continuing training for commercial court judges, IP Philippines partners with the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA), the education and training arm of the Judiciary, to conduct an IP colloquium for judges in July 2008. IP Philippines also proposes a new seminar module for new commercial court judges to help develop expertise in IP in preparation for the creation of special IP courts.
IP Philippines recommends the development of an IP bench book for trial court judges. This will assist special IP court judges in deciding IP cases. Currently, the National Capital Region (NCR) has the most number of IP cases with Quezon City having 87 IP cases (23.6 percent), Manila Branch 24 with 69 cases (18.8 percent) and; Manila Branch 46 with 68 cases (18.5 percent). Region 3 or the Central Luzon Region has 38 cases (7.6 percent) closely followed by Region 11, covering Davao and Socsargen, with 37 cases (7.4 percent). Region 6 or Western Visayas has 23 cases (4.6 percent) while Region 12 or Central Mindanao has 6 (1.2 percent).
IP Philippines puts forward a technology program for judges to help monitor IP cases in the country. This will also link the courts to create a virtual portal to facilitate information exchange among IP judges, and to assist the judiciary to establish a case monitoring system for IP disputes.
In 2007, IP Philippines facilitated international IP training programs for two commercial court judges; six Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors and; one PHILJA counsel. In 2006, IP Philippines and PHILJA launched the first advanced course in IP for judges.
Media that featured the story:
|