Cheers to our Managing Partner, Mila Federis, for making it once again to the “Philippines Top 100 Lawyers 2022” and for being included in the Asian Legal Business “Asia Top 15 IP Lawyers 2022” ranking.

The Asian Legal Business ranking highlights the top 15 IP lawyers across Asia “who have consistently delivered high-quality IP work and set high standards in the IP space, while earning accolades from their colleagues, superiors, and clients.” Full details can be found here. Asian Legal Business Online is published by Thomson Reuters.

Known as the “A-List”, the Asia Business Law Journal ranking “is based on extensive research conducted and nominations received from in-house counsel in the Philippines and elsewhere, as well as Philippines-focused partners in international law firms.” Further details can be found here

Thank you Thomson Reuters, and thank you to all our clients that continue to enable our firm’s CULTURE OF SERVICE®.

• 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.