Re-calibrating intellectual property policies to make room for important provisions is crucial for Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines to move up the value chain and achieve high-income status, a report by research organization Geneva Network said.

Among others, the government should prioritize legislation for trade secrets to ensure these are recognized as an important form of intellectual property right. Trade secrets cover information such as industrial processes and blueprints, confidential business information including customer lists as well as business methods.

Citing the 2019 International IP Index, the report titled “the Importance of Intellectual Property Rights for Progress: A Reform Agenda for ASEAN Countries” said the Philippines is one of the countries lagging behind in terms of protecting its trade secrets.

“The Philippines has some ambiguity on those forms of trade secrets. But trade secrets are becoming a much more important form of intellectual property right because they’re becoming much more easy to steal given that everything is going digital,” Geneva Network executive director Philip Stevens said at the launching of the report in Makati on Tuesday, 23 September.

He added the law should clear out the definition of trade secrets and set out “clear penalties” for the wrongful disclosure of such.

The report said trade secret laws aid in the formation of a “well-functioning, national innovation system.” The guarantee of trade secret protection also weighs in on businesses’ investment decision as well as success, it said, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises.

The same report also urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to address delays in examining patents, improve copyright and trademark laws and provide sufficient protection for regulatory data, or those produced in the development of medicines, veterinary drugs and agricultural chemicals, among others.

According to the report, ASEAN countries have the ability to move up the value chain and become more innovative on the back of strong human resources, but would still have to “reform their IPR systems to the highest global standards,” even as the reforms have already started.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines has also been seeking amendments to the Intellectual Property Code to address issues on online piracy and counterfeiting, as well as stronger enforcement through the institutionalization of an anti-piracy task force.