MANILA, Oct. 14 (PNA) — In order to boost the country’s position in the Global Competitiveness Index through increased local patent filings, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Mario G. Montejo opens DOST for partnership with patent professionals.
“We are targeting 100 patent filings this year,” Montejo explained on DOST’s move to tap patent professionals to beef up the Department’s patent applications.
“The partnership will also pave way for better assistance to local inventors,” he added.
Such partnership is in consonance to Montejo’s drive to fast-track TAPI-assisted patent applications in the country and to cater to both DOST-assisted technologies as well as private inventors. Montejo himself was an award-winning inventor before his stint as a Cabinet secretary.
Thus, DOST’s Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI) formally partnered with the Association of PAQE Professionals, Inc. (APP) through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed September 16.
Engr. Edgar I. Garcia, director of TAPI, is optimistic that TAPI, through the collaboration, will be able to meet its patenting targets and assist local inventors obtain patent grants. These areas need special attention as the country’s patenting statistics show very few local filings by Filipino residents compared with foreign-based patent applications.
TAPI is mandated by Executive Order 128 to promote technology commercialization of the DOST and by Republic Act 7459 to assist local inventors.
The MOA, signed by Garcia and Atty. Bayani B. Loste, APP president, states that APP members will serve as patent agents of TAPI-financed patent applications. APP also committed to allocate at least 20 applications per month as the minimum absorptive capacity for TAPI. These applications will be filed at the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHIL) within 22 working days.
Last 2013, DOST-TAPI assisted 12 patent filings. For 2014, Sec. Montejo and TAPI are targeting 100 applications, 31 of which have been filed at present. (PNA)