NextGen Day

MANILA, Philippines — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHLefforts )’s to promote women in innovation have paid off, with the Philippines now ranking as the second most active country in the international patent system.

According to recent data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Philippines is the second-largest country for women inventors seeking patent protection under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), an international procedure.

Women innovators made up 38 percent of all PCT applications coursed through IPOPHL, trailing behind Cuba, where PCT women inventors outnumbered men with a 53 percent share. This is greater than the 22% share projected for 2020.

Director-General Rowel Barba emphasized the significance of IPOPHL’s PCT filing aid program, which waives certain application fees and provides complete support to inventors throughout the PCT process.

IPOPHL’s classification as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA) had also brought its Bureau of Patents (BOP) up to international standards, according to Barba, enticing more inventors, particularly women, to file through PCT.

Since its inception as an ISA/IPEA in 2019, IPOPHL has aided 39 inventors by providing international search reports for use by other patent offices in determining the patentability of technological applications.

IPOPHL’s “Women on Patent Knowledge Program,” as well as the Bureau of Patents’ (BOP) efforts to assist women inventors in drafting their own patent application forms, have boosted PCT filings among women, according to Barba.

“Seeing how women can lead decisively, compassionately, and effectively, creating positive, lasting changes wherever they are, IPOPHL hopes to see more women take the lead in our innovation agenda through our PCT program, international services as an ISA/IPEA, capacity-building assistance, and awareness initiatives,” Barba said.

“We are really happy with how much we have gained, but we equally know that more must be done,” BOP director Lolibeth Medrano, who is herself an inspiration to women in innovation, said.

For her efforts to gain IPOPHL’s status as an ISA/IPEA, Medrano will receive the Presidential Gawad CES Award in 2021.

Medrano will present IPOPHL’s best practices for empowering women inventors and enhancing their participation in the IP system at a WIPO webinar for women on innovation on March 8, sharing the platform with other Asian-Pacific women innovators.

“It’s not enough for women to be innovative, creative or business owners. If we want to actually empower them and see all of us realize our broader aspirations of gender equality and more vibrant society, we need to make them more IP-conscious, more IP-strategic,” Medrano continued.

Increasing the number of female inventors

IPOPHL will begin the Juana Patent for Patents (JPP) program this month, building on the success of the Juana Make a Mark (JMM) program, which is the organization’s primary project for women empowerment.

Since its inception in 2017, the JMM has helped over 4,000 women and women-led MSMEs save money on trademark applications by waiving certain fees.

Eligible women inventors and women-led businesses can also benefit from waived fees when applying for invention patent awards or registering utility models or industrial designs under the JPP.

A new set of “Women on Patent” webinars will be held by IPOPHL to help women better understand the patent system and the PCT application procedure.

IPOPHL will showcase women inventors, mediators, entrepreneurs, and artists in its awareness campaign as part of its overall celebration of women, with the aim of influencing women to develop more high-value intellectual property assets.

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