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In a move to advance the patenting
practice and activity in the country, the Intellectual Property Office of the
Philippines (IP Philippines) recently held the Patent Agent Qualifying
Examination (PAQE). Conducted for the third time since 2006, the annual
examination is given to individuals seeking professional careers in patent
agency. PAQE, a major program of the IP Philippines, is supported by the
European Patent Office (EPO) and the EC-ASEAN Intellectual Property Right
Co-operation Program (ECAPII).
“IP Philippines institutionalized the exam process to professionalize the
patent agency practice in the Philippines,” said Director General Adrian S.
Cristobal, Jr. “We need to establish a cadre of patent agents who have the
appropriate technical and science disciplines to assist our inventors in
patenting their creations,” he added.
“One factor that hinders patenting is the lack of knowledge and understanding
of the IP system, specifically the patent application processes” Cristobal
explains. Records from IP Philippines show that about 97% of patents applied
for and granted belong to foreign applicants, and about 3% to Filipinos.
“Experiences of countries show that patent applications provide a good
indicator of a country’s technological innovation capacity and performance,”
said Cristobal. The patenting activity in the country places the Philippines
in the 79th rank in terms of innovation, behind its ASEAN neighbors Singapore
(9th), Malaysia (21st), Indonesia (37th) and Thailand (33rd).
IP Philippines’ three-year Strategic Plan instituted patent reform programs
which aspire to improve the patent practice and administration in the country.
PAQE is among the significant activities of the patent reform programs.
Majority of the examinees of this year’s PAQE are from government-funded
research institutions such as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
and the Department of Agriculture (DA). Law firms also sent their IP lawyers
to take the exam.
Prior to taking PAQE, all candidates should finish a prerequisite five-day
Patent Drafting Workshop with the IP Philippines’ Intellectual Property
Research and Training Institute (IPRTI).
“IPRTI seminars and workshops this year are geared to train potential
candidates such as IP lawyers, patent agents and inventors from public and
private research institutions to develop their skills in effective patent
application,” said IPRTI Director Celia Torres-Villanueva.
Among the IPRTI courses offered were on Patents and Patentability,
Introduction to Patent Drafting, and Chemistry and Engineering Courses for IP
Lawyers, a short course for IP lawyers without science or engineering
backgrounds.
Patent agents are professionals who assist those who file patent applications
with IP Philippines.
Examinees may either choose the Chemistry exam or the Non-Chemistry exam
(which focuses on mechanical and electrical engineering).
Patent reform, where programs of the IPRTI fall under, is among the policy
areas in Philippine IP Strategy which also covers public health; universities
and research and development institutions (RDI); biodiversity and genetic
resources; indigenous knowledge, systems and practices (IKSP), folklore and
geographic indications (GI); small and medium enterprises (SME) and
institutional capacity-building and IP enforcement.
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