by Felipo David G. Malcampo
ZAMBOANGA CITY, July 17 (PIA) – Innovation is very critical in business.
It makes one’s product standout from the rest of the competitors and plays a key role in increasing one’s consumer base.
But in business, one’s winning formula ends up being imitated by most of the competitors, resulting in a decrease in sales. It has been like this for the longest time. Always, the innovator ends up losing.
It is for the protection of the innovators that the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) was created. To make sure that all their hard-thought ideas and inventions will be secured from imitators.
For a start up business, it’s very important to be unique. Thus, a businessman tries to add value to his or her product. Take for example mango. Mango sells for about P50 a kilo. To increase their sales, some would think of coming up with other products derived from mango, so they make candies or puree’ out of it. These are just example of value adding through innovation.
Ms. Rosa M. Fernandez, Field Operations Area Manager for Mindanao of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL), an umbrella agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), during the 2012 Enhanced Regional Small and Medium Enterprise Caravan last July 2-7, simply puts it:
“Intellectual Property Rights adds value to your products”.
Intellectual property, according to Ms. Fernandez’s presentation, is the creation or product of the human mind, describing ideas, inventions, technologies, artworks, music and literature that are intangible when first created but become in tangible form as products.
Ms. Fernandez stressed that because of the IPR, one’s innovation is protected by law making sure that he will reap the fruits of his innovation.
“I refuse to use the word, but it’s a form of monopoly but you have to apply for it. You create something, and apply for the protection of that temporary monopoly. If you don’t apply, then others may apply for it or copy it, and you don’t have a way to stop them from using or copying your work. You created it, then you have to protect it”, Ms. Fernandez expounded.
Intellectual Property Rights covers patent, utility model or industrial design, lay-out design, trade or service mark, geographical indication, plant variety protection, protection of undisclosed information, copyright, and other related rights.
Fernandez said there is really a need to protect Intellectual Property to prevent competitors from copying technology or product, avoid wasteful investment in research and development and marketing, create and enhance corporate identity and increase the company’s market value, facilitate negotiation of licensing, franchising or other IP-based agreements, enhancer access to finance, open access to new markets, avoid unnecessary litigation, and to safeguard its teaching and research profiles, with the latter applicable to universities or learning institutions.
Patent is a temporary monopoly granted by the government in exchange for disclosing of an invention. The inventor is granted 20 years of protection from the date of filing to make, use, and sell or import the invention, provided that annual fee is being paid, and patent is not cancelled.
The terms and length of protection depends on the kind of intellectual property applied. For original and derivative works, the protection is during the lifetime of the author, plus another 50 years from his death, while some like registrable utility model protection last for seven years from the date of filing.
Fernandez said interested applicants for intellectual property can either go online over the internet, or ask assistance to the nearest DTI office in their area. (FDM/PIA9-ZBST)