Intellectual Property Office chief named

Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. has been appointed as the new director general of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Malacañang announced yesterday that Cristobal will take his oath before President Arroyo today for his new post, which has a fixed term of five years.

Cristobal replaces Emma Francisco at the IPO helm.

The IPO is tasked to administer and implement policies to protect the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists and other gifted Filipinos of their intellectual property and creations, particularly if beneficial to the people.

"Protecting intellectual property rights encourages innovation and preserves cultural heritage. But intellectual property also bears a social function and the diffusion of knowledge and information will promote national development, progress and the common good," Cristobal said of his new job.

During his stint at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Cristobal spearheaded programs for consumer protection through the implementation of the Consumer Act.

He was also concurrent supervising undersecretary of the DTI’s legal affairs, chairman of the National Price Coordinating Council and head of the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines.

Cristobal obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at the University of California at Berkley and his juris doctor of laws from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law.

The Philippines has been criticized by the United States for failing to come up with stronger laws to protect the intellectual property rights of software manufacturers, artists and publishers, among others.

With the rampant reproduction and sale of pirated optical media and literature, the US has placed the Philippines in a watchlist of countries that fail to meet international standards of intellectual property rights protection.

US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone recently urged the Philippine Congress to plug the loopholes in the Optical Media Act in order to improve the law’s effectiveness.