On 14 May 2024, the Philippines, through the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines ("IPOPHL"), joined 193 Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO") in the historical adoption of the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge ("Treaty"). After 25 years of negotiation, Member States have finally adopted a treaty that addresses the interface between intellectual property, genetic resources ("GRs"), and traditional knowledge associated with GRs ("ATK").
The Treaty requires the disclosure of certain information in patent applications whose inventions are based on GRs and/or ATK. If there is a patent application for claimed inventions based on genetic resources, each contracting party shall require the applicants to disclose the country of origin or source of the genetic resource. Moreover, if there is a patent application for claimed inventions based on ATK, each contracting party shall require applicants to disclose the Indigenous Peoples or local community, as applicable, who provided the traditional knowledge. This mandatory disclosure is seen as a mechanism to stop the misappropriation of GRs and ATK. While GR cannot be directly protected as intellectual property, inventions developed using them can be protected as such, usually through a patent.
Following the adoption of the treaty, IPOPHL announced that it will recommend to the Office of the President, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, the ratification of the Treaty and for the Philippines. The historical Treaty is set to take effect three months after the ratification of at least 15 contracting states.
