In a highly competitive world, the introduction of new or better products and
services to the market as well as innovative ways of producing these goods and services
is a strategic imperative. As market barriers across the world are gradually removed,
business firms realize the importance of innovation and creativity to meet the changing
global and local consumer demand. Two possible ways of facilitating product innovation
and industry competitiveness are through the protection of intellectual property rights
and the use of the appropriate technology.
It is the contention of this paper that enforcing intellectual property rights and
adopting improved technology are important to facilitate the global competitiveness of
Philippine industries. This is with the end in view of exploring new possibilities to use
intellectual property rights protection measures and technology as a means for
innovation in the design of Philippine products under an RP-US Free Trade Agreement.
