IPOPHL and INTA Signs MOU to Combat Counterfeiting

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the International Trademark Association (INTA) have signed a memorandum of understanding for combating counterfeiting. This combating will be done by working on enhancing the skills and knowledge of youth and people associated with various companies, national authorities, etc. The MOU was signed in the presence of IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba and INTA President Tiki Dare.

^{[Image Source: ipophil.gov.ph]}

Speaking on the occasion, Barba said, “We appreciate INTA’s continued support of IPOPHL over the years. But now, we are elevating our collaborative relationships to a more solid collaboration, in which we will pursue a multi-pronged approach of capacity building, awareness, and global dialogue.”

What MOU speaks of?

For working with each other, IPOPHL will seek help with INTA. The assistance that they will get will be in terms of design, trademarks, certification marks, non-traditional marks, renowned and well-known marks. These all assistance will help in avoiding any resemblance, thereby providing less scope of infringement. Activities such as cross-border cooperation, seizures procedures will see a good jump after the MOU. There has been a lot of online counterfeiting trade and this assistance will help in getting into practices for preventing the same. With more brands, there are chances of more counterfeiting goods that need effective coordination with different authorities helping them to streamline coordination. This will also help the court judges for keeping up to date knowledge and staying aware of any new development.

“Our youth are a critical audience in the development of a national culture of intellectual property respect” (IP). “We aim to engage with the kids in a way that captures their enthusiasm in creativity, innovation, and all things intellectual property,” Barba added.

Moreover, those businesses that are at a small scale and have less scope of expansion will greatly benefit from this cooperation. This will help them in their awareness and help them in equipping them with their cost-effective brand management techniques. INTA has its network worldwide with its members in every part of the country. They have been into a variety of activities that will help in learning best practices from them. Not only with the practices from INTA itself but the MOU also states that it will help IPOPHL in a variety of leadership positions at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Working Group on IP Cooperation (AWGIPC) and the ASEAN Network of IP Enforcement Experts (ANIEE). It is to be noted that the Philippines has been a major player in Southeast Asia where it has shared its key role in executing 13 regional IP treaties. INTA was full of praise for the Philippines for noting its creativity and thinking in dealing with problems. It can be noticed by various activities where Philippines attempts to change the structure of the 1997 IP code and even Supreme Court decision to simplify the IP prosecution procedures. This MOU will be executed through the end of 2022 where after that period it will again be evaluated to address new concerns which might have been unaddressed in the present MOU.

Recent trends in IPOPHL

IPOPHL has been in the news recently when it has been removed from the US watch list Special 301 Report. The report released by US Trade Representative (USTR) flags countries that form serious trade barriers concerning the IP laws of the country. Giving reason to USTR, IPOPHL cited Republic Act 9184, or the Government Procurement Reform Act 2002, for ensuring that only authentic and registered bidders engage in the bidding process. To this Barba commented that the reduced areas of concern are a result of IPOPHL’s whole-of-society role in heading the 12-member National Committee on IP Rights (NCIPR) implementation activities and coordinating with relevant private stakeholders.

Moreover, a report published by the Commission of audit’s Independent Auditor (IA) for IPOPHL for the year 2020, says that IPOPHL financial statements “reflect equally, in all relevant respects.” Each such structure for the finance in the organization has been made in consonance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standard, be it financial status, financial results, cash flows, adjustments in net assets/equity, analysis of budget, and really sums for the year.

Author: Saransh Chaturvedi an associate at IP & Legal Filings, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us at support@ipandlegalfilings.com.