INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY filings in 2022 hit a record 48,259 in 2022, driven by the economic recovery, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said at a briefing in Taguig City on Monday that the previous record was 47,328 set in 2019, before the pandemic. Gross domestic product growth was 7.6% in 2022, accelerating from 5.7% in 2021. 

“The strong uptick in 2022 IP filings shows how aggressive businesses are in seizing opportunities in the more upbeat economy and the digitalization of business interactions as intensified by the pandemic,” Mr. Barba said.

In 2022, Mr. Barba said trademark applications accounted for 41,235 filings, up 4%.

Pharmaceutical, health and cosmetic products led all trademark applications with an 18.4% share, followed by agricultural products and services (16.6%), and scientific research, information and communication technology (14.9%).

Mr. Barba said that patent applications increased 9.3% to 4,403 in 2022.

The leading patent applications were in pharmaceuticals at 28.9%, followed by organic fine chemistry (12.1%), and digital communications (8.3%).

Utility model (UM) filings, which are a patent-like IP right to protect innovations, dropped to 1,615 in 2022 from 1,615 in 2021. The top UM filings were in food chemistry, which accounted for 44.6% of the total, followed by other special machines (8.8%), and basic materials chemistry (4.9%).

He added that applications to protect industrial design (ID) — which seek to register the three-dimensional look of a product — fell to 1,235 in 2022 compared to 1,265 in 2021. The leading industries for ID filings were means of transport or hoisting at 19.7%, packages and containers for the transport or handling of goods (8.7%), and furnishing (8.3%).

Copyright registrations rose 73% to 3,706 in 2022 as more creators sought to protect their copyright in online and physical markets.

The top registrations were generated by books, pamphlets, articles, e-books, audio books, comics, novels and other writings (36%); literary, scholarly, scientific and artistic works (19.7%); and drawings, paintings, architectural works, sculpture, engraving, prints, lithography or other works of art, models or designs for works of art (8.6%). — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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