|
Aesthetic, defined in the Oxford dictionary as
“sensitivity to beauty, or artistic or stylish,” has
often been a whipping dog at various stages of human
civilization. Be it due to Plato’s Republic,
stoicism, Puritanism, machismo or the “counterculture”
of the 1960s, an appreciation for aesthetics, style or
design is looked down as frivolous or petty.
Paying
attention to the appearance of things we use or wear is
a result of “crass commercialism” brought about by
unscrupulous advertising.
This
sentiment is not lost on politicians in touch with the
public pulse. Despite a growing creative economy in the
UK, Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted in 1997, “If MPs
pushed for a debate in shipbuilding they would probably
get one, but if they pushed for a debate on the design
industry they would be dismissed as concentrating on
trivia.”
But
design has become such an integral part of almost
anything available in the market. As observed by John
Howkins in his book The Creative Economy,
“Without some design element, most manufactured goods
and services would either not exist or would fail to
differentiate themselves in the marketplace.” No wonder,
the design industry has been growing rapidly.
The
global market is worth about $140 billion, 60 percent of
which is cornered by the United States, Germany and
Japan. The US market alone is worth $50 billion, about
a third of the world total, and continues to grow. In
terms of job generation, the Industrial Design Society
of America says the average annual growth in design jobs
over 1995-2000 was 21 percent.
Getting
a slice of this world market is a goal that our country
can achieve. Our furniture industry, for example, raked
in a total of $1 billion in 2007, an increase of close
to 10 percent from its 2006 revenues.
In our
country, there are two ways to protect designs: through
copyright or through an industrial design registration,
which we refer to as a design patent, being one of the
forms of Patents.
The
Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293) defines an
industrial patent as “any composition of lines or colors
or any three-dimensional form. . . that gives a special
appearance to and can serve as pattern for an industrial
product or handicraft.” An industrial design must be new
or original, meaning it must meet the test of “novelty,”
just like a patent. With a design patent, a designer
enjoys protection and exclusive rights for a period of
five years, and can be renewed twice for the same
period, for a total protection of 15 years.
Since
2005, IP Philippines has taken steps to improve its
registration system for design patents to encourage more
designers to use the incentive provided the patent
system. In 2005 the office had quite a backlog on
applications, and the average turnaround time for a
design patent was four years. It was no surprise why
designers saw no need for a patent. But because of
improvements, a designer can now obtain his patent in
six months. Next year this process will be reduced to
three months, and by 2010, when all reforms are in
place, this should go down to one to two months.
These
improvements in the design-patenting process not only
will make it easier for designers to protect their work
and benefit from the incentive the patent system offers,
but it also keeps pace with the dynamism of the design
industry.
Filipino
designers have been competing with the best in the
world, introducing unique designs and innovative uses of
indigenous raw materials. Protecting and promoting
industrial design should be foremost in the minds of our
designers.
The author is the director general of the Intellectual
Property Office of the Philippines. Comments may be sent
to e-mail address: dg_asc@ipophil.gov.ph. |
