PHILIPPINES: COVID-19 UPDATE (Posted: April 28, 2020)
IPOPHIL will resume operations on May 18, 2020.
Case hearings and trials are suspended until further notice.
Extended Deadlines May 31, 2020 is the new deadline when original deadlines fell on March 16 to March 31, 2020.
Original deadlines of April 1 to May 15, 2020 are extended for 60 days.
No Extended Deadlines No extensions for submission of Third Party Observation and Adverse Information for utility model and design applications for PPR, medical/healthcare equipment/devices and pharmaceutical products urgently needed to address the COVID-19 health situation. Voluntary surrender of patents, utility models and industrial designs. The formal requirement on verification shall be complied with upon resumption of normal operations on May 18, 2020 Priority Rights Claims. Applications claiming priority must be filed within the prescribed priority date.
Online Filings for New Applications. Only online filings are allowed during the lockdown.
When online filings resulted in multiple identical online applications, applicants must notify IPOPHIL by email to [email protected]which application will be given due course. Absent this notice, the IPOPHIL will consider the first application.
Fictitious Online Applications. Applications for inventions, utility models, and industrial designs containing highly-questionable entries (e.g. title, name, address) and/or unintelligible specification details not compliant with Sec. 32 of the IP Code, indicating lack of bona fide intention to seek protection, shall be considered fictitious applications. Such fictitious applications shall be filtered, removed, and removed from the system.
Payments. Payment of filing fees for online filings is extended for 60 dates but the official filing date if the date that it was filed online.
