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Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Awareness level on IP in Cebu rising - group
By Aurelia l. Castro
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Awareness on the importance of protecting intellectual property (IP) continues to improve in Cebu.
Andrew Ong, Iprotect administrator and senior partner of Ong Bagay-Villamor and Fabiosa law firm, said enforcement of the law creates an impact.
“Those who are infringing (on copyright) will now think twice. The original creators, on the other hand, will be happy because their rights are being protected,” he said in an interview yesterday.
Even though product creators or designers have registered their creations, they still “lost” a lot in the past because their designs were copied, he said.
Enforcement
Strict enforcement of the law assures designers and product creators that their intellectual property rights are protected and those who infringe on them will be penalized.
Lawyer Clint Fabiosa of the Ong Bagay-Villamor and Fabiosa law firm cited the copyright infringement case filed against Tropitek International Inc. by Dedon Manufacturing Inc. before the Office of the City Prosecutor in Mandaue.
Dedon alleged Tropitek violated Section 177 in relation to Section 217 of Republic Act 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code.
According to documents Iprotect furnished to Sun.Star Cebu, Tropitek allegedly sold furniture products that were “identical, very similar or slightly altered reproductions or copies” of eight Dedon’s Daydream and Panama designs.
Arraignment
Tropitek officials denied the charges in their counter-affidavit.
Fabiosa said the arraignment of the case will be held on May 25.
“IP awareness improved a lot in Cebu. When we started promoting IP in 1999, awareness wasn’t just zero, but was even negative. People and businesses had negative sentiments about it,” Ong said.
He added that only around 20 percent of businessmen in Cebu were aware of the need to protect their IP.
In 2003, he said there were about 5,500 trademark applications. Only 147 are from region 7, he added.
“The number of trademark applications has doubled now. But I don’t have yet the updated number of applications from Cebu.
But definitely, it has improved,” he said.
In a forum earlier, Estrellita Beltran-Abelardo, head of the Bureau of Legal Affairs of the Intellectual Property Office, stressed that IP is the life of a business.
“Intellectual property, (be it a trademark, patent or copyright) is a vital source of your income because that’s how you produce your product. If your business depends on your product or mark and then somebody just copies it, it can cause a big loss,” she said.
Patent applies to the protection of one’s intellectual property right over a certain product. A trademark is used to protect ownership of a sign, mark or logo.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 3, 2006 issue)
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