Trademark registration in the Philippines

No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in Philippine branding. SEC or DTI registration stops someone from registering an identical company name; it gives no trademark rights at all. Your brand needs its own IPOPHL registration, and until it has one, anyone can file for it, including your competitors and partners.

Six to twelve months from filing to certificate when nothing is contested: formal examination in one to two months, substantive examination in three to six, then publication, the 30-day opposition window, and issuance. Office actions and oppositions extend that. Once registered, protection runs from the filing date, which is one more reason to file early.

Government fees run a few thousand pesos per class, scaled by entity size, plus publication and issuance fees. Our fee covers the search, the filing, and the prosecution through to certificate, quoted per class; contested matters and DAU filings are quoted as they arise. Schedule a call with your mark and product list and we'll give you the exact figure.

It depends where their filing stands. If it's still in the opposition window, we oppose. If it's registered, the routes are a cancellation petition (bad-faith filings can be challenged, and a mark unused for three continuous years is vulnerable on that ground alone), a negotiated purchase or coexistence, or in some cases rebranding for this market. We assess which route fits before you spend on any of them.

No. The process is electronic end to end, and foreign applicants without a Philippine address appoint a resident agent through a signed power of attorney, no notarization required. Emerhub acts as your resident agent, which also means oppositions, office actions, and official notices reach someone who acts on them.

The international system that groups all goods and services into 45 classes. Your registration protects the mark in the classes you file, so the class choice defines the protection. Multi-class applications are allowed and usually sensible: one filing, several classes, with fees per class.

They have 30 days from publication in the eGazette, extendable once by 45 days, to file with IPOPHL's Bureau of Legal Affairs. The proceedings are adversarial but most resolve by argument or agreement, coexistence arrangements included, without killing the application. We represent you through it and tell you honestly when settling beats fighting.

Yes, on a fixed calendar: the declaration of actual use within three years of filing, within one year after each fifth anniversary of registration and of every renewal, and within one year of each renewal, each with evidence. Miss one and the mark is removed from the register. This is the single most common way foreign-owned Philippine marks die, and the reason our service includes the calendar.

Yes; the Philippines has been a Madrid member since 2012, so you can designate it in an international application. IPOPHL still examines the designation under the same rules, and the DAU calendar still applies, filed through a Philippine resident agent. For a Philippines-only filing, the national route is usually simpler; for a multi-country program, Madrid with local support for the DAUs works well.

The registration renews every ten years, indefinitely. Each renewal comes with its own declaration of use within the following year, which is the requirement renewing owners most often miss. We track both dates and handle the filings.