Philippines

Entering a foreign market for one's products is usually made through direct investment or by way of licensing, such as forging a distributorship agreement. Such an agreement will be the law for the parties. For agreements involving the Philippines, other than the provisions stated in it, other laws relevant to said agreement are deemed included and must be complied with. An example is Article 19 of the Civil Code on the abuse of rights. Article 19 sets certain standards which must be observed not only in the exercise of one's rights but also in the performance of one's duties, i.e. to act with justice; to give everyone his due; and to observe honesty and good faith.

The city of Manila was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) on March 16 2020 and all government offices and private businesses except those providing essential services, were required to work from home or closed. Public transportation was suspended, and everyone was required to practise social distancing and wear face masks.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has just issued Memorandum Circular No. 2019-024 entitled Amendments to the Rules and Regulations on Inter Partes Proceedings, which will take effect on February 15 2020. Its objective is to provide speedy, quality and effective legal remedies to resolve IP disputes. The major amendments are as follows:

The TRIPS Agreement, to which the Philippines is a signatory, enables governments of member countries with no capacity to manufacture medicines to import/export cheaper pharmaceutical products via a compulsory licence. These are medicines for which they would otherwise have paid a higher price because of existing patents.

Editha R Hechanova, Brenda P Rivera and Chrissie Ann L Barredo of Hechanova & Co, analyse the law around patents and trademarks including the procedure for acquiring a patent, establishing patent infringement and the enforcement of trademark rights