IP CODE
, in the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention, the Rome
Sec. 4. Definitions.-
4.1. The term "intellectual property rights" consists of:
[a] Copyright and Related Rights;
[b] Trademarks and Service Marks;
[c] Geographic Indications;
[d] Industrial Designs;
[e] Patents;
[f] Layout-Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits; and
[g] Protection of Undisclosed Information (n) [TRIPS].
4.2. The term "technology transfer arrangements" refers to contracts or agreements
involving the transfer of systematic knowledge for the manufacture of a product,
the application of a process, or rendering of a service including management
contracts; and the transfer, assignment or licensing of all forms of intellectual
property rights, including licensing of computer software except computer
software developed for mass market.
4.3. The term "Office" refers to the Intellectual Property Office created by this Act.
4.4 The term "IPO Gazette" refers to the gazette published by the Office under this
Act. (n)
Sec. 121. Definitions. - As used in Part III, the following terms have the following
meanings:
121.1. "Mark" means any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods
(trademark) or services (service mark) of an enterprise and shall include a
stamped or marked container of goods; (Sec. 38, R. A. No. 166a)
121.2. "Collective mark" means any visible sign designated as such in the application
for registration and capable of distinguishing the origin or any other common
characteristic, including the quality of goods or services of different enterprises
which use the sign under the control of the registered owner of the collective
mark; (Sec. 40, R. A. No. 166a)
121.3. "Trade name" means the name or designation identifying or distinguishing an
enterprise; (Sec. 38, R. A. No. 166a)
121.4. "Bureau" means the Bureau of Trademarks;
121.5. "Director" means the Director of Trademarks;
121.6. "Regulations" means the Rules of Practice in Trademarks and Service Marks
formulated by the Director of Trademarks and approved by the Director
General; and
121.7. "Examiner" means the trademark examiner. (Sec. 38, R. A. No. 166a)
National treatment is one of the fundamental principles in the international
conventions protecting intellectual property. It is established in the most important
conventions as, e.g.
Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, TRIPS, NAFTA and the WPPT,
also in the WCT that under its Article 3 makes Articles 2 6 part of the WCT.
There are only a few conventions not applying the national treatment principle, such
as, the Geneva Phonograms Convention and the Brussels Satellite Convention, and
those do not confer private rights to the beneficiaries who shall be protected, but
leave it to the Contracting States to choose the legal means of protection.
National treatment is the simple and ingenious solution to solve the problem of
worldwide protection for creative inventors and authors. According to the principle
of territoriality, countries can grant protection only within the boundaries of their
own territory. Worldwide protection can be provided only by international treaties
having as members the greatest possible number of countries. But when concluding
such treaties, the nature and scope of protection accorded to nationals of other
member states was an issue that still had to be solved. Worldwide harmonization of
national intellectual property appeared to be unrealistic, and reciprocity as a general
principle would have led to a patchwork system of mutual protection, including the
need to find out in individual cases what kind of protection was granted by the laws
of the other country in question. National treatment, under which a treaty member
accords nationals of other member states the same treatment it accords its own
nationals, allows that member and its courts to apply their own law the law they
are familiar with. Supplemented by the system of minimum rights, it even has the
tendency to bring about a harmonization of national laws at least up to a certain
degree.
PARIS CONVENTION
Article 1
Establishment of the Union; Scope of Industrial Property2
(1) The countries to which this Convention applies constitute a Union for the
protection of industrial property.
(2) The protection of industrial property has as its object patents, utility models,
industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names, indications of source or
appellations of origin, and the repression of unfair competition.
(3) Industrial property shall be understood in the broadest sense and shall apply not
only to industry and commerce proper, but likewise to agricultural and extractive
industries and to all manufactured or natural products, for example, wines, grain,
tobacco leaf, fruit, cattle, minerals, mineral waters, beer, flowers, and flour.
(4) Patents shall include the various kinds of industrial patents recognized by the
laws of the countries of the Union, such as patents of importation, patents of
improvement, patents and certificates of addition, etc.
Article 2
National Treatment for Nationals of Countries of the Union
(1) Nationals of any country of the Union shall, as regards the protection of industrial
property, enjoy in all the other countries of the Union the advantages that their
respective laws now grant, or may hereafter grant, to nationals; all without prejudice
to the rights specially provided for by this Convention. Consequently, they shall have
the same protection as the latter, and the same legal remedy against any infringement
of their rights, provided that the conditions and formalities imposed upon nationals
are complied with.
(2) However, no requirement as to domicile or establishment in the country where
protection is claimed may be imposed upon nationals of countries of the Union for
the enjoyment of any industrial property rights.
(3) The provisions of the laws of each of the countries of the Union relating to
judicial and administrative procedure and to jurisdiction, and to the designation of an
address for service or the appointment of an agent, which may be required by the
laws on industrial property are expressly reserved.
Article 3
Same Treatment for Certain Categories of Persons as for Nationals of Countries
of the Union
Nationals of countries outside the Union who are domiciled or who have real
and effective industrial or commercial establishments in the territory of one of the
countries of the Union shall be treated in the same manner as nationals of the
countries of the Union.
Sec. 131. Priority Right. -
131.1. An application for registration of a mark filed in the Philippines by a person
referred to in Section 3, and who previously duly filed an application for registration
of the same mark in one of those countries, shall be considered as filed as of the day
the application was first filed in the foreign country.
131.2. No registration of a mark in the Philippines by a person described in this
section shall be granted until such mark has been registered in the country of origin
of the applicant.
131.3. Nothing in this section shall entitle the owner of a registration granted under
this section to sue for acts committed prior to the date on which his mark was
registered in this country: Provided, That, notwithstanding the foregoing, the owner
of a well-known mark as defined in Section 123.1(e) of this Act, that is not registered
in the Philippines, may, against an identical or confusingly similar mark, oppose its
registration, or petition the cancellation of its registration or sue for unfair
competition, without prejudice to availing himself of other remedies provided for
under the law.
131.4. In like manner and subject to the same conditions and requirements, the right
provided in this section may be based upon a subsequent regularly filed application
in the same foreign country: Provided, That any foreign application filed prior to
such subsequent application has been withdrawn, abandoned, or otherwise disposed
of, without having been laid open to public inspection and without leaving any rights
outstanding, and has not served, nor thereafter shall serve, as a basis for claiming a
right of priority. (Sec. 37, R. A. No. 166a)