Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General Rowel Barba is targeting a 5 to 10 percent increase in Intellectual property (IP) filings this year.

In an interview with Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on Tuesday, Barba said he is optimistic that the number of IP applications this year would be higher than in 2023.

“We are still optimistic that we can surpass iyong performance namin last year (We are still optimistic that we can surpass our performance last year). Based on our historical figures, we have been increasing, growing by 5 to 10 percent every year, except during the pandemic, 2020. But now, we have already recovered and hopefully, we are still optimistic that we will be able to grow it to between 5 to 10 percent filings,” Barba said.

At a press conference last month, the IPOPHL chief reported that IP filings from January to October 2023 grew by nearly 2 percent to 41,815 from 41,022 in the same period in 2022.

Top IP filings in the first 10 months of last year were trademarks at 35,538; patents at 3,612; utility model at 1,538; and industrial design at 1,127.

Barba has vowed to strengthen IPOPHL’s awareness campaign on the benefits of registering intellectual property works to support this year’s up to 10-percent target increase in IP filings. (PNA)