BAGUIO CITY?Intellectual property experts have urged entrepreneurs and inventors to patent their products and inventions to boost the country?s economy.

Lawyer Adrian Cristobal Jr., director general of the Intellectual Property Philippines, said 93 percent of registered patents in the country were owned by foreign companies, mainly in the pharmaceutical industry.

The remaining 7 percent of registered patents are filed by Filipinos whose interests are in agriculture, machines and equipment, chemical, herbal products, design and furniture.

With patents and registered trademarks, owners then have the right to prevent other companies or individuals from copying or cashing in on their creations, such as songs, brands, medicine formulations and even shirt designs.

Cristobal said foreign companies have dominated product patenting in the Philippines because they have been more aware of the benefits of intellectual property rights since it was implemented in their respective countries as early as the 1600s.

?These countries, particularly those in Europe, are more advanced when it comes to knowing the intellectual property rights ? they know how to manage and benefit from it. In the Philippines, patenting is relatively new, our office was only created in 1998, so relatively there?s low public awareness,? he said.

Cristobal was guest during the recent opening of the IP Philippines Baguio satellite office at Camp John Hay.

He said the satellite offices in the provinces would help small and medium entrepreneurs and inventors in making their products competitive.

He said his office wanted to expose local inventors to the value of intellectual property rights. His office also wanted the patent procedures to be more accessible to the public, through their offices and website, where entrepreneurs and local inventors could apply for patents and trademarks online.

The disparity in the volume of patents filed in Metro Manila and the provinces has prompted the IP Philippines to explore the potential of the regions.

The IP Philippines? other offices are in the cities of Cebu, Davao, Angeles and Legazpi.

The Baguio satellite office receives applications for grant of letters for patent for inventions, registration of utility models and industrial designs, registration of marks and integrated circuits, and technology transfer arrangements.

In the provinces, local entrepreneurs could apply for collective trademarks for their common product, said Cristobal.

?Collective trademarks could be applied for [common] products such as coffee and bamboo. Instead of competing, the small businessmen should join forces,? he said.

He said even products and indigenous designs created by tribal communities could be applied for collective trademarks, similar to the practice in Australia, Ethiopia and Jamaica.

?Jamaica benefited from their traditional culture of reggae music. Reggae now corners 10 percent of the music market in the world,? he said.