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Saturday, February 25, 2006
Cebu X: Not just about furniture
By Adrian Cristobal Jr.
Intellectual Property Office
Cebu is all geared up for the Cebu X International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition 2006, which will feature the best creations of the country’s leading furniture makers.
Judging from the success of past Cebu X shows, we expect the latest furniture designs to lure buyers from across the country and all over the world. After all, the Filipino’s creativity in design has propelled, and will continue to propel, the furniture industry into the world stage.
How else can the success of the furniture industry be explained if not for the creativity of its designers?
The Philippine furniture industry has penetrated the markets of the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and Australia to the tune of $294 million in 2004. Forty percent of these exports came from Cebu.
Entering the markets of Europe, Japan and the US entails competing with furniture makers around the globe. To succeed, the industry must match creativity in design and craftsmanship with the best designers in the world.
The growth and dynamism of the country’s furniture industry, and of Cebu in particular, is proof of the quality of Filipino creativity and innovation, which are the keys to improving business competitiveness.
Assets
The success of the furniture industry shows that intangible assets —inventions, technology, designs, lyrics, music and art - are becoming more important than tangible assets like factories and machines. Other industries that have penetrated the export market, such as jewelry, garments and semiconductors, also rely heavily in creative and innovative designs.
The Information Technology sector, the fastest growing segment of the economy, relies on knowledge and innovation. These intangible assets are also known as intellectual property (IP).
In today’s knowledge econo-my, intellectual property is a key driver for social and economic development.
Furniture designs, for example, fall under the category of industrial designs, which can be protected by a patent. Once registered with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines), a patent bestows upon the designer an exclusive right over his design for five years, renewable for two more five-year terms, or a total of 15 years of exclusive rights.
If someone copies her design within this period of exclusivity, a designer has the right to take legal action against the copier or the person who commits infringement.
With the protection over her design and exclusive rights to use it, a designer has a reasonable period of time to profit from her creation. This, in turn, serves as an incentive for her to continue creating designs, which will produce more products, and ultimately more jobs and income for the economy.
Cebu furniture
Take Cebu as an example. There are over 300 furniture makers in the island, which exported $90 million-worth of products in the third quarter of last year. These companies employ about 220,000 workers.
A constant flow of new and marketable designs, properly protected and utilized, can produce a bigger share of the export market leading to hundreds, even thousands, of more jobs.
Yet in 2005, IP Philippines received only 97 industrial design applications from the furniture industry or eight of total applications received. Of the 97 applications, 60 (62 percent) were filed by foreigners.
Thus, only a handful of designers sought protection and exclusive commercial rights for 37 designs (38 percent of the total recorded applications in IP Philippines). There’s still a vast potential of intangible assets that have to be protected and promoted in the furniture industry.
It is necessary to raise public awareness about the importance of IP for business development and global competitiveness. For all of us to benefit from IP, we must cultivate a culture that values, nurtures and uses IP for national development.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 25, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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