Mr. Ricardo R. Blancaflor, Director General of Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), and the Deputy Ambassador of the Philippines to Israel visited the Shalom Center for Comparative Legal Research at Ono Academic College on June 23. They participated in a comparative law seminar examining the question of how Israel became a high-tech powerhouse and what developing ‎countries can learn from Israeli innovations relating to patents‏.‏

Mr. Blancaflor claimed that the Philippines is the most advanced in Asia in terms of protecting intellectual property and preventing violations but the ‎intellectual property field is still insufficiently developed, especially as regards innovative inventions ‏.‏

Intellectual property problems that concern the Philippines include the theft of traditional knowledge by the West and promoting accessibility of the blind and people with ‎limited vision to products protected by copyright‏.‏

Dr. Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, Director of the host Center at the Ono Academic College returned recently from two years at Yale University. She presented data regarding ‎Israel's leading position in innovation, investment per capita in the field of intellectual property and the number of start-ups‏.‏Regarding the book ‏The Start-Up Nation, Dr. Yanisky-Ravid ‏explained that the secrets of Israel’s success lies in the surprising factors such as compulsory military service‏and‏massive immigration, as well as other factors such as government support and relations with the West‏ .‏

Dr. Miriam Bitton introduced innovations in patent law, while criticizing the new guidelines issued by the Israel Patent Authority for their lack of clarity.‏

Patent Attorney Jeremy Ben David, owner of a leading patent law firm explained the positive aspects of the amendment to Israel’s Patent Law that removes ‎obstacles hampering companies producing products in the field were a patent has been filed‏.‏

Mr. Yissachar Bertisch of Ehrlich & Fenster Patents, ‏a law student at Ono Academic College, proposed a reform in the patenting of service inventions so that royalties given to ‎employees inventors are clearly known in advance‏ .‏

Mr. Aharon Hameiri, a businessman, who completed law school at Ono this year, spoke about the potential for the economic cooperation between Israel and the Phillipines, based on his current experience.