The Philippines plans to accede to the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (IDs) by 2024 to protect local designers’ creative output in the global scene at the least cost.
Under the Hague agreement, a designer can file a single ID application with minimal paper work directly to the World Intellectual Property Organization through the e-Hague online system.
The system requires a single set of requirements and payment through a single currency—Swiss francs.
“With the Hague System, a local designer would have a way to protect their IDs in multiple jurisdictions through a simplified international filing system. This can prove to be advantageous, especially for our small and medium enterprises who can avail of the services of the Hague System and enjoy lower cost in filing fees compared with filing individually in each country,” said Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) director-general Rowel Barba.
“We encourage more designers to take advantage of this once in place, hopefully next year upon our accession,” he said.
There are 79 member states—or 96 countries and inter-governmental organizations allowed to accede to the agreement—under the Hague System.
The Philippines, upon its accession in 2024, will be the fifth country in the ASEAN to be a member of the agreement, following Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam.
IPOPHL said that not many local designers are aware they need protect their designs separately from their businesses’ processes and brands.
Accession to the agreement could safeguard design assets more strongly from counterfeiting and other forms of intellectual property theft, said Bureau of Patents director Ann Edillon.
“A lot of our local designers don’t register their designs due to lack of awareness of the value of IDs. That’s the first major hurdle, which requires increasing public awareness. In the end, we hope to help them understand that there’s actual value in the design itself,” she said.
According to a 2018 World IP Organization study aimed at understanding the use of IDs in ASEAN, the export revenues from design exceed the typical export shares in the general population of firms, suggesting design innovation may be an effective way to achieve growth in foreign markets.
IPOPHL said it would conduct information caravans and other campaigns to ensure local stakeholders are ready to take advantage of the Hague Agreement upon accession next year.
IPOPHL deputy director-general Ann Claire Cabochan underscored the importance of the public consultations in gaining the stakeholders’ views, particularly to determine points for cooperation and areas where IPOPHL, as a member of the National Innovation Council, can provide further support to designers.
