
Two experts and representatives from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), Atty. Louie Andrew Calvario and Engr. Chamlette Garcia, led the Basic Orientation Seminar on Intellectual Property Rights conducted by DEBESMSCAT on August 24, 2017.
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Prolucen C. Velarde, opened the program with a message where she presented and emphasized ten important questions about Intellectual Property Rights to guide the participants on what to look for and learn from the said event.
“What is IPR? How is it used? These questions must guide you as we progress with the seminar. IPR is an important issue especially as this institution is ascending towards becoming a University and more skilled, talented and enthusiast inventors and content creators will expectedly express themselves in the years to come,” punctuated Dr. Velarde.
Dr. Morena. C. Buayan, Research Director, defined IPR and outlined its uses and importance in her statement of purpose. As the Research Director, she felt the need for the participants to take advantage of this training to help them create, develop, sustain and protect their intellectual property.
“…We feel like we’re missionaries of Intellectual Property Rights and our goal, at the end of this seminar, is to create converts,” said Atty. Lourie Andrew Calvario, Attorney VI of the Office of the Director General of Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.
“In the Global Innovation Index, the measure of how much a country creates and innovates, the Philippines is the 78th out of 128. Furthermore, in the study conducted involving 7 ASEAN countries, Philippines is in the 5th,” continued Atty. Calvario as he presented the relevance of intellectual property to economy.
Atty. Calvario also provided an overview of the Intellectual Property System and gave some technical insights on what could be considered protectable and not including the applicable duration of protection.
“Patent is a way of protecting not only your product but also the process,” said Engr. Chamlette Garcia, Officer in Charge of the Utility Model Division of IPO, the resource speaker Protecting Intellectual Property.
Aside from discussing, in details, patents, utility model and industrial design, he also outlined the requirements to protect the said intellectual properties including the need for full disclosure.
“Recall the invention published on television about a car running out of water as a fuel. Actually we filed a patent for that. However, tests reveal the presence of carbon in the exhaust gas. Thus, the inventor was using hydrocarbon—something that he did not, and was no willing to, disclose. Thus, the application for patent was not approved,” continued Engr. Garcia.