Sometime around March 2022, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) launched an e-services system that would allow the general public to conduct pre-filing, filing, and post-filing transactions online. This could include things like filing for your trademark application as well as submitting required documents post-filing such as your Declaration of Actual Use.
I’ve had to do a post-filing transaction for the Declaration of Actual Use (within the 1 year from the 5th anniversary of the registration) right now and below recounts my experience of the steps needed to complete it.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and only recounting my experience filing online. Please remember to do your own research on what is needed for your situation. 🙂
- I filled up an application form found through https://www.ipophil.gov.ph/application-forms/ In my specific case, I selected the ‘Declaration of Actual Use’ form under the Trademark section.
- I also filled up a letter for the sworn statement claiming to be a small entity (for applicants with less than P100mn in assets) since I saw it as a requirement on the portal. I found a template from mensalaw.com (https://www.mensalaw.com/forms/trademark/sworn_statement_small_entity.pdf) Thank you mensalaw! 🙂
- I had both documents notarized at a notary public near me.
- I prepared proof of actual use by arranging photos of my mark in use in a document and describing what they are.
- After preparing the documents, I went to the portal: https://www.ipophil.gov.ph/online-filing/ then clicked on the link under Post-Filing for Trademark.
- I then selected the following fields:
- “DAU” under Request group
- “Declaration of Actual Use (5th year)”under Request type.
- I then searched for my mark. You can search by name of the mark or by number. The number is your registration number although it has a specific format that goes something like “PH-x-yyyy-xxxx” with yyyy being the year of filing date.
- I then attached the prescribed form with the sworn statement as the “Request Letter” and the document with the photos as the “Declaration of Actual Use”
- After clicking the “Next” button, the page goes to the “Confirmation” section. It then asks for details on Manual Signature which I filled up.
- Downloaded the acknowledgement document
- Clicked the button to activate payment gateway. I chose to pay via PayMaya Wallet which is through a QR code.
- The fee was P1,111 but I was charged P1,119 which means there was an additional fee of P8 for the transaction through this method. (The fees aren’t shown beforehand.)
- After successful payment, the screen automatically opened to a transaction confirmation from IPOPHL so I took a screenshot for reference.
Upon checking my email, I also received a copy of the SOA and it also had a link to pay. No email confirmation received on the payment, although the acknowledgement document did say the document is considered filed on the date of payment.
That’s it for now. Will update if there’s news on what happens after. Thanks for reading!