3rd Intellectual Property Youth Camp held in Cebu

(PIA-7) – The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) recently held the 3rd Intellectual Property (IP) Youth Camp in Cebu.

OIC-Director General of IPOPHL Atty. Allan B. Gepty said this event aims to enable secondary school students understand the role of IP in nation-building.

“In order to increase the level of awareness and to share the value of the Intellectual Property (IP) rights, we need to educate our constituents for them to appreciate the IP system. I believe when it comes to enforcement, the ultimate solution is education,” said Gepty.

“We need to educate the people not to patronize the counterfeit products and pirated items. People must know the reason and understand why they should not patronize those products,” he continued.

IPOPHL officials is working with Department of Education (DepEd) to incorporate Intellectual Property in the curriculum to raise education campaign on the importance of IP.

“We need to increase IP awareness among our young generations to generate support and to let them know as early as now the value of IP,” said Gepty.

With this, the agency initiated a project three years ago called the “IP Youth Camp” that will cater for those students who are active in the creative industries.

From the initial roster of three schools in 2013, the number of participating schools has expanded to seven in Metro Manila alone, producing 25 students in 2014 who are now called IPOPHL’s Young IP Advocates (YIPA) in their respective schools.

By bringing the IPOPHL’s IP Youth Advocates program to Cebu in time for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation IP Rights Experts’ Group (APEC-IPEG) meeting, the organizers are not only expanding the reach of the program, but also sharing one of their most successful IP awareness and education initiatives to partner APEC economies.

This is the first time that the IP Youth Camp is held outside of Metro Manila with 40 participants coming from science and technology and private secondary schools in Cebu province.

“The vision is to make this as an instrument for harnessing creativity, innovation and respect for IP rights among our young people who are the future of our country,” said Gepty. (rmn/hfg/PIA-7)