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Archives
June 1-30, 2007
IP awareness continues with staff bureaus
by Marlowe U. Aquino, PhD
 To show consistency and continuity in the Bureau of Agricultural Research's (BAR) endeavor to increase the Intellectual Property (IP) awareness level in the agriculture and fisheries R&D sector, the Bureau conducted the “Intellectual Property Awareness Training Workshop” on 7-8 June 2007 at the BAR Conference Room, RDMIC Building, Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.
The workshop was a follow-up to the IP training workshop held in May. This time, participants came mostly from the staff bureaus of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The lecturers were Dr. Andrea B. Agillon, head of BAR's Intellectual Property Rights Office (IPRO); Atty. James Dennis C. Gumpal, legal and IP counsel of BAR; and Engr. Merito J. Carag, chief of the IP Philippines' Bureau of Patents.
The two-day training workshop hoped not only to provide awareness but also a deeper understanding on the important policies and issues of IPR to strengthen R&D. The activity paved the way for a better IPR system—particularly for the benefit of the agriculture sector.
Importance of IPR in agriculture
IPR plays a crucial role in the field of agriculture, particularly in R&D. The underlying objective of IPR is to protect the scientists'/researchers' rights to be appropriately acknowledged for their work, be it in the form of an invention, technology, information, process, or method.
IPR puts in place a mechanism that would provide the scientists and the researchers a way of controlling the utilization and optimization of their works, and thereby ensuring that they are properly rewarded for such inventive endeavors.
Having effective and easily 'implementable' IPR system encourages and stimulates the creation of more innovations and its ingenious use that eventually would benefit the agriculture and fisheries sectors. This proves that the producer of a protected work is not the only beneficiaries of this endeavor but also the users of technologies themselves.
IPR also provides a secure environment in which the general public could have access to protected high quality research without the fear that the original work may not be acknowledged.
The need for information awareness
As the saying goes, before full understanding takes place, first, there must be information awareness.
Before the policies and implementing guidelines are set, it is important to first set the level of awareness among those who need to be informed. No intellectual property system can make an effective contribution to economic and technological development of a country unless the system is known to, and used by those whose benefits are known.
An IP system is established not only to serve the needs of traders, manufacturers, industrialists, researchers, and businessmen but also the consumers. The list of potential users and beneficiaries is inexhaustible, and the benefits to be derived from an effective use of IPR cut across sectoral lines within an economy.
It is crucial, therefore, to promote among owners and users, as well as among potential owners and users, the importance of a good IP system. Also to create awareness of its nature and of how its main components can be developed and successfully exploited in various sectors to serve better the national interest and national goals of development. 
June 1-30 2007 Articles:
:: DZRH's Ito ang Palad ko features two CPAR success stories on ubi and ducks
:: Luzon Cluster A moves forward with technology commercialization; 9 technologies presented
:: DA to unify GIS with support from Taiwanese government
:: BAR links up with private sector to establish bio-fertilizer production facilities in the regions
:: ARMMIARC conducts in-house review and planning workshop
:: BAR participates in DA's ICT and ISSP review workshop
:: FCSSP holds 19th Scientific Conference; Yap promotes sustainable technologies to increase farm productivity and income
:: BAR, Optiserve orient regions on e-Pinoy project and its potentials
:: IP awareness continues with staff bureaus
:: Providing livelihood and protecting the environment through community-based watershed management
:: BAR highlights CPAR projects at 6th Agraryo Trade Fair
:: ACIAR taps Philippines to conduct joint impact assessment studies
:: Linking info gap through GAP
:: International conference on coconut proposed
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