The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has called anew the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to protect their intellectual property rights (IPR), underscoring the importance of trademark in their business.

“Normally, these trademarks are just applied by bigger companies but because of the effort and just we’ve been popularizing it, even MSME are now more aware of need to register their brands,” DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

Lopez bared the department has been providing free trademark registration to list many MSMEs.

He cited the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) database intellectual property filings in 2018 which rose 15 percent year-on-year, with utility models propelling the growth soaring 54 percent from 2017.

Patents followed surging by 28 percent, trademarks with 11 percent, and industrial design with 9 percent. Copyright deposit recordation booked at 29 percent.
Apart from the initiatives of the IPOPHL, the Trade chief said the department has launched a campaign to popularize the importance of registering trademarks, patents, copyrights, and popularizing.

This will enable the people, especially brand owners, to make sure they are able to hold intact to their business and being aware about the importance of their rights and having their brands registered, he added.