Many MSMEs invest heavily in building products, winning customers and growing their market presence. Yet some of the biggest threats to their business do not come from competitors with deeper pockets, but from misconceptions about intellectual property (IP).
During the launch of the four-month IP Management Clinic Mentoring Program, held by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), experts from IPOPHL, WIPO, the academe and the IP community highlighted how common misunderstandings about IP can expose businesses to unnecessary risks and limit growth opportunities.
Based on their insights, here are five misconceptions that continue to hold many businesses back.
- “IP is just about patents”
Many entrepreneurs associate IP exclusively with patents and inventions. But IP covers a much broader range of business assets, including trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets and other forms of protection.
“It’s not just patents. It’s a lot of other things that businesses can use to conduct their business,” Mr. Peter Immanuel dL. Tenido, Project Director at the De La Salle University (DLSU) Innovation and Technology Office (DITO).
This misconception can cause MSMEs to overlook valuable assets that contribute to competitiveness and growth, such as a brand, creative content, product design, confidential business information or proprietary process that deserve protection.
- “IP protection is too expensive and only for big businesses”
MSMEs often believe they lack the budget to protect their IP assets. But Guy Pessach, Director of WIPO’s IP for Business Division, likens IP protection to insurance, emphasizing how it mitigates business risks.
“If you didn’t take the right measures to protect your invention, every step you take exposes you to significant risks that can affect the entire business investment,” Pessach said. “Think of IP as an insurance scheme. Do you buy insurance? The principle is the same thing.”
“The cost of early protection is often far lower than the cost of rebranding, litigation or market loss later,” Tenido added.
To make IP protection more accessible, the IPOPHL offers support programs that waive fees and offer technical assistance, such as:
- Juana Programs – the Juana Make a Mark (JMAM)and Juana Patent and Juana Design Protection Incentive Program (JPIP) help women-led MSMEs and startups secure trademark, patent, industrial design and utility model protection
- Youth Intellectual Property Incentive Package (YIPI)– designed for young innovators and entrepreneurs
- Green Technology Incentive Program (GreenTech)– offers fee waivers and accelerated processing for eligible environmentally sustainable innovations.
- Juan for the World (JFTW)– provides financial and technical assistance for Philippine MSMEs’ to protect their trademarks under the Madrid Protocol — the international filing system for trademarks.
- Inventor Assistance Program (IAP)– matching under-resourced inventors with pro bono patent agents who can support in preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications
- PCT Filing Assistance Program– helps Filipino inventors and eligible institutions pursue international patent protection through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system
- “Business registration is the same as IP registration”
A business name is different from a brand name. Registering your business name with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gives you the legal identity to operate as a sole proprietor. However, this does not grant exclusive ownership or trademark rights over your brand. To protect your brand name, logo or tagline—and gain the exclusive right to use them in connection with your goods or services—they must be registered as trademarks with IPOPHL.
“This is one of the most common and dangerous assumptions that can derail years of brand-building overnight. Because trademark protection often favors those who file first, an MSME that delays registration risks losing its brand to a competitor, forcing it to rebrand,” IPOPHL’s Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau (DITTB) Director Ralph Jarvis H. Alindogan said.
The misconception can also hurt an MSME’s ability to protect its brand online, as many e-commerce platforms require proof of trademark ownership to removing counterfeit listings.
- “I can worry about IP later on”
Founders are often focused on testing products, understanding customers and validating whether a business has a viable market. While those priorities are important, experts warn of waiting too long to address IP.
“Sometimes it’s still a situation where we can fix things. Sometimes it’s too late,” Pessach said.
Pessach said many businesses only recognize the importance of IP after encountering avoidable problems. In some cases, inventions are publicly disclosed before protection is secured, potentially risking their legal protection. In others, businesses fail to protect trade secrets, employee-created innovations or manufacturing know-how through appropriate agreements.
- “IP is a one-time legal requirement.”
Many businesses treat IP as paperwork, assuming that obtaining a registration certificate marks the end of the process. IPOPHL’s DITTB Assistant Director Chamlette D. Garcia argues that effective IP management requires a different mindset.
“The goal is for IP to be hardwired into the way businesses operate, becoming as routine a consideration as filing taxes and marketing,” Garcia said. He added that businesses must also maintain their rights by filing Declaration of Actual Use (DAU) requirements for trademarks, renewing trademarks and industrial designs, and paying patent annuities.
IP strategies also need to evolve with MSMEs as they expand into new markets, launch new products, move online or enter partnerships.
When an IP strategy is folded neatly into a business strategy, MSMEs gain a greater vantage point on what competitiveness and growth potential can look like for their businesses.
