US keen on upping support to PH creative industry

by Ramon Royandoyan Philstar.com

THE head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is eyeing opportunities on how they could boost their support to the Philippines’ creative industry, which is still reeling from pandemic-induced woes.

Kathi Vidal, the director of the USPTO and Commerce undersecretary, lauded the Philippine government's efforts to pass legislation to support the country’s creative industry.

“The ability to grow jobs in the Philippines through the creative industry is phenomenal, given your workforce, given how young they are, given how talented they are in that space,” she told Philstar.com in a limited engagement with the news media on Monday, May 22.

Republic Act 11904 or the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act lapsed into law on July 27 last year. The measure is geared towards aiding the development of the creative industry sector. This sector contributed 7.3% to the country’s gross domestic product last year. This is equivalent to P1.6 trillion, leapfrogging 12.1% year-onyear as the creative industry largely benefitted from the easing of mobility restrictions towards the end of 2022.

Vidal’s three-day tour in the Philippines, alongside a meeting with the head of the country’s intellectual property office, marked a first of sorts. This was her first visit to the Philippines as director of the superpower’s patent office, part of a broader initiative of the United States to strengthen its economic alliances amid the backdrop of regional tensions against China. The USPTO has been active in the region since the mid-1970s.

“What we plan to do in the next meeting is a listening session, I wanna hear how we can support the Philippines more, how we can support artists in the Philippines, not just the larger organizations that might show up to a meeting like this but all the artists out there that are not showing up,” she said.

“That’s something we’re solving for in the US as well,” Vidal added.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding with the USPTO in 2021.

Intellectual property woes

As it is, the creative industry sector’s prominence could grow larger in the coming years, as the Marcos Jr .administration believes so. In the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the government trained its sights on this sector to fatten its contribution to economic growth and drive innovation.

Vidal spotlighted that the Philippines could attract more investments provided the country fosters growth in its intellectual property (IP) ecosystem.

Data provided by the USPTO revealed the United States is the top patent filer in the Philippines, with patent filings growing 9.3% in 2022.

“The fact that you’re not on the 301 list, the fact that you’re committed to IP, creative industries, makes it a very ripe area for investments,” she said.

The Philippines has stayed out of the U.S.’s watch list of countries with IP violations for a decade now. As it is, counterfeiting and piracy remain a perennial problem across the world, as the Philippines has made considerable efforts to curb them.

The European Commission flagged four markets in the country, Greenhills Shopping Center and Divisoria counting tagged as two, as hotspots of counterfeit goods. g

California’s fentanyl problem...

PAGE 1 coupled with an equal public health approach.

“We’ve thrown tens of billions of dollars at the war on drugs over two generations, almost three generations now, and believe it or not, drugs across category — from marijuana to cocaine to heroin/ fentanyl — drugs are ever more pure and ever cheaper despite impressive levels of effort,” Ciccarone said. “The most honest answer is there’s no clear answer as to what to do about the fentanyl crisis.”

He recommended California allow supervised consumption sites where opioid users could legally inject drugs, an idea Newsom vetoed last fall but that Ciccarone said can ease people into treatment. Other harm reduction strategies, including expanding the use of test strips and other chemical analyses to check drugs for contamination with fentanyl, can also save lives, he said.

Humphreys led a 17-member commission that examined the opioid crisis and made recommendations including expanding the availability of prescription drugs such as buprenorphine, naltrexone, and methadone to ease addicts’ cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

Still, some parents of children who have experienced opioid addiction say tougher penalties must be part of the response.

“What they don’t understand is that fentanyl has changed the drug landscape like no other drug has in the history of the United States of America,” said Jaime Puerta, whose only son, Daniel, died from fentanyl in 2020 at age 16.

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

Solon calls for probe into...

PAGE 1 to point finger, that it could have been prevented.”

Abante also wants an evaluation of the integrity of iconic landmarks and national heritage sites as soon as possible, as they link generations and bridge the past and the future.

“Failing to restore this landmark, would result in a fragment of our identity shattered, a hole in our collective memory, a chapter in our story left incomplete,” said Abante.

Fire broke out at the Manila Central Post Office Sunday night, Damage was pegged at 300 million. g

Missing Fil-Am teen found...

PAGE 1 teenager with flyers being shared on the ground and on social media. His parents, Randy and Karen Caoile, took to social media to announce their son’s passing.

"We want to thank everyone who has been helping with our search for Jordan. The support we received from the community and social media has been tremendous. We cannot thank you all enough,” they wrote in a post. They provided the update that “he has been found but with a heavy heart unfortunately he is no longer with us.”

The post added,"Please continue to keep Jordan in your thoughts and prayers. We ask as a family if you could please assist with removing any posters or flyers you come across."

"Please respect our privacy as we come to terms with our loss,” they wrote.

A GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com/f/caoile-family-fundraiser) has been started to help the Caoile family with expenses associated with their loss. (AJPress)