PH, WIPO Enhance Ties During Visit of WIPO Head

Left photo: Ambassador Evan P. Garcia stresses the role of intellectual property in development during his keynote address during the event organized by IPOPHL at the celebration of the World Intellectual Property on 26 April 2018. Right photo: Ambassador Garcia participates in a panel discussion with IPOPHL Director-General Josephine Santiago and WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry.

MAKATI CITY 30 April 2018 — The Philippines and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) further strengthened relations during the official visit to the Philippines of WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry on 26 April 2018, an event that coincided with the celebration of World Intellectual Property Day and the launch of the national Intellectual Property Awards.

The Philippines is a member-state of WIPO, a specialized UN agency that serves as the primary international body tasked with helping shape, coordinate, and promote policies and procedures related to patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property.

“As a developing country, the Philippines advocates the balanced use of intellectual property as a tool for development, believing that intellectual property rights should ultimately aim to serve the greater and common good,” said Ambassador Evan P. Garcia, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva, in his keynote address during the conference organized by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).

“Protecting the rights of innovators should be balanced with democratizing access to new products and technologies,” he added.

Meanwhile, Director-General Gurry emphasized the role of the judiciary in promoting intellectual property; the importance of developing a system that would address the resource base of developing countries, in particular genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and folklore; and the need to encourage more women to be innovators, creators and users of intellectual property in their own right.

IPOPHL Director-General Josephine Santiago led the launching of the Intellectual Property Awards, which gave recognition to individuals, academic institutions, and private companies that have helped promote Filipino innovation and ingenuity. Among the recipients was former President Fidel V. Ramos, under whose administration IPOPHL was formally created in January 1998.

IPOPHL’s other projects to promote public awareness and use include the crafting of a National Intellectual Property Strategy, which is being developed with support from WIPO, and the establishment of an Intellectual Property Academy. END