This Feb-ibig month, love is in the air — but so is intellectual property or IP!

We might not realize it, but IP is everywhere, even in this month of romance. The love songs you listen and dance to and the love poems you wrote or have written are protected by copyright. The brands of chocolates and some flower shops are protected by trademarks to give “brand” new meaning to your love life.

Some inventions have also been patented to take your romance to another level — a Drinking Straw (Reg. No: US005160087A) that allows you to share a sip of your favorite drink with your partner and an Umbrella for Lovers (Reg. No: CN201869939U) that could cover two people to ensure that they can still keep close and dry in the rain.

IP is a very interesting subject matter but some people find that its complexities and mysteries move in mysterious ways, as does love. To unravel its puzzles, IPOPHL has employed different strategies, providing more learning events to beginners and more advanced IP learners alike.

In recent years, we have also embraced what we call “hugot lines” in our awareness campaign, hoping to tug at the hearts of the romantic Filipinos, which many of us are. Hugot lines, which in English literally translates to “pull-out” lines, refer to statements or advice “pulled out” from a past heartache or other universal heartbreaks in life.

Our social media presence has come a long way thanks to these witty love statements and #FridayFeels posts we’ve created and found to have raked in the most engagement.

“Huwag hayaang walang label (Don’t go into relationships without labels)!” and “Kapag mahal mo, protektahan mo (When you love someone, protect him/her)” are some of the hugot lines we would often say to drive at the importance of protecting and registering IP rights at the earliest you can since our IP system follows a first-to-file rule.

To hammer down the need to file a declaration of actual use and maintain the validity of a trademark, we remind the public that “Hindi porke’t inalagaan ng maraming taon, hindi na pwedeng agawin ng iba (Just because you took care of something for years doesn’t mean it can’t be taken away from you).”

So even if you don’t find “the one” for you yet, at least you can find your “forever” in trademark protection because this can be renewed indefinitely — that is, as long as you submit your DAU and renew your trademarks on time.

Meanwhile, when referring to the benefits of copyright, we’d quip, “Buti pa sa copyright, may lifetime na, may 50 years pa! (Having a copyright is even better! You already have a lifetime, plus 50 years!).”

When it comes to piracy and counterfeiting, we have our hearts breaking too. For us, the products we buy should also align with the relationships we commit to: “Dapat tunay at hindi tayo niloloko (it should be genuine and does not deceive).”

As death does love apart, so do limited protection schedules on IP and its rights holders. These protection terms span ten years for trademarks with indefinite renewal; lifetime of the author plus 50 years for most types of copyrighted works; 20 years for patented inventions; seven years for utility models; and five years for industrial designs with no more than two consecutive terms for renewal.

Once the IP moves to the public domain, what takes place is a new chapter with the promise of greater innovation and creativity as more people can use these IPs and create with them new relationships to learn from.

As such, rights holders, just like in relationships, must cherish the limited time they have with their IPs, ensure that every passing year towards the expiration date is not wasted, and that the bond is molded like a trademark that gives a “brand” new meaning to life.