IPOPHL opens first IP help desk in Region 6

BACOLOD City – The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) opened its newest Intellectual Property (IP) Help Desk on Sept 29, 2022 at the Provincial Economic and Development Center here.

The IPOPHL is an attached or partner agency of the Department of Trade and Industry tasked with administering and implementing governmental intellectual property (IP) policies and was established to strengthen the protection of these rights.

The IP Help Desk Desk in Bacolod City is the 5th Help Desk in the country and the first in Western Visayas.

In an online message, DTI Region 6 Regional Director Rebecca Rascon said that it has been a long request of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the area for an IP Help Desk to assist them in their trademark, patent and copyright applications.

She added that the objective of the Help Desk is to raise the use and awareness of the IP system among innovators, creators and businesses in Region 6 and to protect their intangible assets through IP Registration.

The IPOPHL collaborates with the DTI and DOST in developing initiatives to support the expansion of various innovative activities in the country.

“One of IPOPHL’s strategic initiatives is to expand its geographical reach through the creation of IP Help Desks. With Negros Occidental’s high potential for growth in IP applications, the decision to set up an IP Help Desk in the province was not hard,” said Deputy Director General and Head of IP Field Operations Atty. Nelson O. Laluces.

He added, “IPOPHL is keen and ready to bring its programs and services closer to the IP stakeholders of Negros Occidental.”

The IP Help Desk in Negros Occidental will be manned by the IP Regional Officer based in Iloilo, Marianne T. Bebit, and it will be available every third Wednesday and Thursday of the month, starting October 2022.

The newly established help desk is located at the Provincial Economic and Development Center beside the DTI Negosyo Center in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

Bebit enjoins all stakeholders in the province and nearby areas to avail of the programs and services of the IPOPHL.

The Launching program will also focus on the capacity-building training, dubbed as Negosyo Ko IPO-Protect Ko program which was designed to enhance the knowledge on IP of DTI Negosyo Center Business counselors and frontliners.

This capacity building and upskilling was first organized in Region 6 by the IP Field Operations Unit (IPFOU) in 2017.

The launching was attended by representatives from the Provincial Economic Development and Investment Center, IPOPHL, DTI and Negosyo Center Negros Occidental officials, coordinators, business counselors, frontliners, MSMEs, start-ups, women entrepreneurs, and partner government agencies.

More IP Help Desks will soon be installed in Visayas, in the cities of Moalboal and Bogo, Cebu come October 2022.