IPOPHL's Commercial Patent Search, Service Now Fully Digital from End to End

July 29, 2020

The commercial patent search service of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) can now be taken advantage of through entirely electronic means with the recent launch of an online payment system for the service.

“With the completion of the online filing system for patent search and analytics services, IPOPHL expects more requests for the service amid the growing need for innovations that can help us survive the pandemic and live more tolerably in our transition to the new, digital normal,” said Mary Grace Cruz-Yap, director of the Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau, which is primarily tasked to perform patent information searches and promote its use in the country’s technological development, among other functions.

She added that payment channels are currently through DragonPay and VISA Mastercard.

It may be recalled that IPOPHL allowed email requests for commercial patent searches as early as June to sustain much-needed innovation activities, given that the said search is crucial in launching an innovative product or service in the Philippines. 

To note, there are several types of commercial patent searches that serve different purposes, such as kickstarting research and development, assessing a product’s market viability, and ensuring that no infringement case can arise with inventions covered by already existing intellectual property (IP) protection.

These types are namely Equivalent/Compound per se Search; Comprehensive Search; Patent Landscape Report, all of which can now be requested and paid for online. 

From January to June, IPOPHL received 12 requests, 29% lower than the 17 of requests in the same period last year. 

For the entire 2019, 48 commercial patent search requests were lodged at the office.### (Janina Lim, Media Relations Officer)