The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is inviting legislators to deepen their partnership with the agency in advancing key amendments to the Intellectual Property (IP) Code and related legislation, as the law marks its 29th anniversary today, citing the need to modernize the IP framework in step with evolving technological and economic realities. 

On April 3, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that “provisional rights [under 35 U.S.C. 154(d)] are granted only when a patent would issue with exclusionary rights (i.e., would issue before its expiration date).” In re Forest, 134 F.4th 1198 (Fed. Cir. 2025). After the Forest decision, the Office began 1) identifying pending applications which, if issued, would result in a patent without any term (with no possibility of accruing Patent Term Adjustment which would result in patent term) and 2) mailing orders to show cause as to why prosecution of such pending applications should continue, even though any resulting patent would issue without exclusionary rights. In addition to saving our stakeholders unnecessary prosecution costs, this new procedure helps ensure examination resources are appropriately focused in support of reducing patent pendency.

The Prohibiting Adversarial Patents Act, introduced alongside Chairman of the Select Committee on China John Moolenaar (MI-02) and Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Darrell Issa (CA-50), would prohibit the issuance of a U.S. patent to any person or entity who is identified to be a threat to U.S. national security pursuant to the Non-SDN CMIC List, the 1260H List, or the FCC’s Section 2 List. Any patent previously issued to companies on these lists would be unenforceable. This bill would also restrict such entities from participating in any expedited patent examination programs, including the USPTO’s Patent Prosecution Highway program.