Romulo Law Firm are a general practice law firm, founded in 1902, and is a pioneer in intellectual property (IP) practice in the Philippines region. Some of the landmark cases the firm handles are recorded in the repositories of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, explains Rogelio Nicandro, in a feature interview about the undoubted competency of Romulo Law Firm in the field of IP.
Romulo Law Firm handle applications for the registration of patents, trademarks and copyright, something the firm had handled for some time. The firm has developed expertise in this vein, and are able to consult internally on difficult IP matters, and have conferences with an examiner for any specific difficulties. Aside from the regular filings for registration, the firm is concerned with IP litigation, which can be in the form of cancellations, oppositions or fair trading practice.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines concentrates on enforcement, so much so that the country has been removed from the list of countries that are deficient in the enforcement of IP laws. The former director-general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines is now a member of Romulo Law Firm as “a consulting lawyer”
Nicandro underlines, adding that this “reinforces our IP practice to a large extent,due to his expertise and the prestige that is attached to his name, as a successful former director-general.”
Romulo Law Firm is open for consultations, perhaps for a customer before they file an application for registration, or take up IP litigation. The firm can discuss the possible obstacles that they encounter along the way, in the applications for trademarks and patents. Concerning patents, the firm “has received a lot of queries regarding patents, something that we discuss with our clients from all around the world.”
Nicandro then goes on to reveal that Romulo Law Firm is now trying to attract companies from Japan, who regularly files their applications in the US, “and we are discussing with them the possibility of them making their filings in the Philippines” which he believes would be quite useful since both countries are fairly close to each other, and the cultures are quite similar. Nicandro is hopeful that clients in Japan will to Romulo Law Firm, instead of the US, thus expanding the firm’s clientele.
On taking an innovative approach to all matters of IP, Nicandro reveals that dealing with IP in itself is a very creative endeavour, and he says the firm has to be innovative in how they approach it. Elaborating on this, Nicandro goes on to say that, “we do try to continuously update the firm’s services which is a never-ending process. We also try to learn from our clients what their concerns are, and in addition to this, for every matter referred to us we try to anticipate what the future difficulties. We ask the clients for their views, so that when we submit our responses to the examiner, then we exceed our agreement with them. As far as possible, we prepare our response ahead of time, and give the client a copy of our proposed response”.
Looking to the future, while client servicing is “a never-ending process”, Nicandro is of the opinion that if you try to reach perfection, you will never attain it but “there is always room for improvement”. Part of the firm’s culture is that is there is a problem, then a member of staff should bring it up, and that an innovative solution can be provided.
Company: Romulo Law
Firm Name: Rogelio Nicandro
Email: Rogelio.Nicandro@ Romulo.com
Web: www.romulo.com
Address: 21st Floor, Philamlife Tower, 8767 Paseo De Roxas, Makati City 1226, Philippines
Telephone: 63 2 555 9555
