The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has issued Memorandum Circular No. 2026-007 (Revised Rules and Regulations on Copyright Registration and Copyright Related Services). The updated framework modernizes national deposit and registration procedures by establishing mandatory electronic filing channels, introducing a tiered examination schedule (7, 20, or 45 days based on work classification), and offering free preliminary review services.

Key Highlights & Strategic Impact

The revised rules streamline administrative workflows while providing clearer legal standards for emerging digital creative outputs:

• 1. Mandatory Electronic Deposit Channels: Authors, software engineers, and creators must deposit digital copies of literary, artistic, and software works directly through IPOPHL’s official electronic filing portal, removing requirements for physical paper or media submissions.
• 2. Predictable Tiered Examination Schedules: Implements a structured processing timeline—classifying deposits into 7-day, 20-day, or 45-day review tracks based on technical complexity and work category—providing rights holders with exact operational windows for commercial deployment.
• 3. Free Preliminary Review & Examination Pre-Checks: Allows applicants to request advisory completeness reviews prior to paying formal registration fees, reducing formal office action rejections due to improper deposit formatting.
• 4. Human Authorship & AI Expression Standards: Explicitly codifies refusal grounds for autonomous AI-generated outputs lacking human creative expression, while clarifying that human-authored components developed using AI tools remain eligible for copyright registration.

Recommended Action Items for Rights Holders

To maximize copyright protection efficiency in the Philippines under MC No. 2026-007:

Document Human Creative Input: Maintain clear development logs for software or graphic assets that utilize AI tools to demonstrate human authorship upon examiner request.

Utilize Electronic Filing Portals: Transition national copyright registration workflows directly onto the IPOPHL online platform to obtain electronic Certificates of Copyright Registration.

Determine Tiered Classification Early: Map software code, audiovisual works, and literary assets to their designated 7-day, 20-day, or 45-day processing windows prior to public product launches.

Leverage Free Preliminary Reviews: Request IPOPHL preliminary checks to verify file formats, metadata, and human authorship disclosures before formal fee payments.

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