Trademark registration in the Philippines. The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic island country in Southeast Asia. The Philippines is considered to be an emerging market and a newly industrialized country, which has an economy transitioning from being based on agriculture to being based more on services and manufacturing. In addition, the country has a variety of natural resources and a globally significant level of biodiversity. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of trademark registration in the Philippines.
Trademark in the Philippines
A mark that can be registered as a trademark in the Philippines is a word, a group of words, signs, symbols, logo, or a combination thereof that identifies and differentiates the source of the goods or services of one party from those of others.
When a business registers its trademark in the Philippines, it will have exclusive rights to the trademark and will be able to prevent others from using or exploiting the mark in any way.
In addition, the trademark which will then become the business’s brand identity on the market can generate income for the business, create the future possibility of collaboration with other businesses.
Necessary documents for trademark registration in the Philippines
Necessary documents for trademark registration in the Philippines include:
- The application for trademark registration in the Philippines;
- Detailed information of the applicant (name, nationality, and address, etc.);
- Detailed information of the representative or attorney (name, nationality, and address, etc.);
- Classification of goods and/or services;
- Trademark sample;
- Priority documents (If any);
- The prescribed fee.
The procedure of trademark registration in the Philippines
To obtain trademark protection in the Philippines, the applicant can choose to submit their trademark application online through the https://ipophil.gov.ph website or file it personally at the Philippine Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL).
After careful examination of the trademark application, if there are issues detected, the IPOPHL might send a Registrability Report to the applicant. The applicant or their representative must file a response to the report within 2 months from the mailing date.
If the IPOPHL has no objections, they will issue a Notice of Allowance and the applicant needs to pay the required fees within 2 months from the mailing date.
After the needed fees are received by the Philippines IP Office, the trademark application will be published for 30 days on the IPO website. If there are no oppositions or the oppositions have been resolved with the winning party being the applicant, the applicant will be issued a Certificate of Registration.
Trademark renewal and use requirement of a trademark in the Philippines
A registered trademark in the Philippines will have a protection period of 10 years from the date of registration. Every 10 years, the trademark owner may file for renewal of the trademark to extend the protection period to another 10 years.
Commercial use of the trademark is not required at the time of the filing of the trademark application.
After registration of the trademark in the Philippines, the applicant or registrant must submit a Declaration of Actual Use (DAU) along with the supporting Evidence of Actual Use (EAU) on the following periods:
- Within 3 years from the filing date of the application, subject to an extension of 6 months;
- Within 1 year from the 5th anniversary of the registration;
- Within 1 year from date of renewal; and
- Within 1 year from the 5th anniversary of each renewal.
If the trademark owner or their representative fails to file the Declaration of Actual Use with the supporting Evidence of Actual Use within the prescribed periods, the trademark will be automatically removed or canceled from the Register.
You can see a list of the Philippines IP firms here.