MEMORANDUM-CIRCULAR NO. 14-004

TO : ALL CONCERNED
FROM : EPIFANIO E. EVASCO Director, Bureau of Patents
CC : LOLIBETH R. MEDRANO Assistant Director
SUBJECT : DEFERRED PUBLICATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN APPLICATION
DATE : 20 May 2014

To enable designers and companies applying for the registration of industrial designs to keep them secret from competitors until such time that these are placed in the market, applicants may opt to file a request for the deferred publication of their industrial design application. The request may be filed simultaneous with the filing of the application, or at any time prior to its publication in accordance with Part 17 of the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).
The maximum period allowed for the deferred publication of an industrial design application shall be thirty (30) months from the filing date or priority date of the application. In case the request for the deferred publication is made after the filing of the application, the allowable period for the deferred publication shall be the remaining time from the allowed thirty (30) months deferred publication period. The applicant/s may request for a specific time for this Office to publish the application, provided it does not go beyond the allowed deferment period of thirty (30) months.
Furthermore, as industrial design applications which satisfy the formal requirements provided under Rule 1517 of the revised IRR are immediately published by the Office within five (5) days from the date of filing thereof, applicants are encouraged and strongly advised to file their request for deferred publication upon the filing of their applications. This is to prevent the inadvertent publication of the design applications with subsequent requests for deferred publications.
For your guidance and information.
This memorandum takes effect immediately.