Republic of the Philippines
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Philippine Center for Postharvest
Development and Mechanization
CLSU Compound, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija

NEWS STORIES

Seminar orients researchers on IPR
by Vicky M. Barlis (July 31, 2006)
Researchers of BPRE and nearby institutions got an orientation on intellectual property rights [IPR] last May 23, as the bureau is now about to institutionalize an office that would handle its IPR concerns.


Held at the BPRE auditorium, the orientation seminar was spearheaded by the Evaluation and Management Services Division of the Planning and Evaluation Department.


Atty. Ronilo A. Beronio, deputy director for administration of PhilRice [Philippine Rice Research Institute] and head of its Intellectual Property Management Office [IPMO], served as resource speaker together with Ms. Jane G. Payumo, also of the IPMO.


The seminar aimed to increase the participants' level of IP awareness and upgrade their knowledge for higher respect for IPR. Discussed during the seminar were: fundamentals of IP; claim drafting; and prior art/patent search. The participants were also given a chance to do actual patent search.


Some 56 participants from BPRE and 10 representatives from PhilSCAT [Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technologies], CLSU [Central Luzon State University], BFAR [Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources] and PCC [Philippine Carabao Center] attended the seminar.


After 28 years of operations, BPRE has already completed more than a hundred researches. Although there are a lot of potential technologies for commercialization, there has been no deliberate action to protect and commercialize these to benefit the government and researchers.


Actually, only a few agencies at the national level have started embarking on protecting and commercializing their respective technologies or intellectual properties [IPs]. As a research and development agency, BPRE has to deliberately explore the protection and commercialization of its IPs.