WIPO head bats for public consultations on IP protection

MANILA, Philippines – World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) director general Francis Gurry will be visiting the Philippines from March 21 to 23 to conduct consultations with the government, business and academic sectors on the protection of intellectual property rights and the enforcement of intellectual property laws in the Philippines.

This is the first official trip of a WIPO director general in the country.

WIPO is a special agency in the United Nations tasked to develop accessibility in intellectual property systems in countries.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said Gurry’s visit to the country would send a message to the international community, especially the Philippines’ major trading partners, that the Philippines is giving importance to the protection of intellectual property rights in the country.

“This will boost the confidence of investors in the Philippines. Intellectual Property (IP) is considered a valuable tool in international trade and has become an important component of trade agreements being signed by the country with various partners,” IPOPHL said. IPO aims to aims to achieve what is calls a 3D IP System in the country by 2020. It stands for Democratized, Demystified, Development-oriented.

During his visit, Gurry will pay a courtesy call on President Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Gurry will also participate in the forums organized by IPOPHL and WIPO. These are the High Level Forum on Access to Technology for Innovation, and the Forum on Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Technology.

The first forum will explore the use of patents to protect intellectual property rights in technology markets. The second will discuss the equitable sharing of benefits on the use of traditional knowledge in indigenous communitites for commercial purposes as allowed by the communities.

During Gurry’s visit, IPOPHL will also formally launch the Patent Libraries Franchise Network which provides access to global patent libaries through various universities nationwide; and the Industrial Property Automation System, an administration software developed by the WIPO to streamline the operations of intellectual property offices worldwide.