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IP Views My Internship at BNU It all started when Atty. Ferdi Negre, my Ateneo de Manila Law School professor in Trademark Law announced a casual offer in class during our last meeting about taking an apprenticeship with BNU. It was the same day when we had to come to class ready to recite more than thirty cases. Clearly, I was not looking for an easy ride when I considered his offer. But what drew me to take the internship was my interest in Intellectual Property Rights. I simply wanted to learn more, so I decided to take the internship. Before applying, I scanned through the BNU website, and I was impressed by their list of clients, which included major local and foreign companies like Lacoste, ABS-CBN, Converse, and Globe Telecom. That led me to immediately submit my résumé to Atty. Negre, and BNU warmly took me in. Atty. Jon Perez, or JQP as we fondly address him in the office, became my supervising attorney. I loved being a BNU intern. The workload was moderately heavy, but I quickly realized that I was in it to learn more. On my first day of work alone, I immediately learned how to file an application for trademark registration online. I am proud to say that I learned from the best, because BNU is the pioneer in using the IPO’s Trademark Online Filing System. As a firm exclusively engaged in IP practice, BNU always keeps abreast of the latest advancements in the field of IP to offer top of the line assistance in IP registration and management in the Philippines. I had my fair share of coping with the continuous learning process demanded by BNU. In order to do the pleadings and legal articles that were assigned to me, I had to gather all my books, cases, and notes from IP class, and I had to bring them all to the Office for my reference. I had to review all the things I learned about IP from law school and even that was not enough! Over the three weeks that I spent in BNU, I was constantly researching and studying IP concepts that were alien to me: Open Source Software, IP issues arising from antitrust legislation, Creative Commons License - the list goes on. It may have gotten overwhelming sometimes, but for the most part, I felt excited about the new things I was learning about IP. I had never encountered these new topics in law school, and I feel very privileged to have learned more about IP beyond what was taught in IP class. The raid for counterfeit goods is definitely one experience that can never be found in a typical IP course. It was one of the major highlights of my internship. During my internship, Attys. Bengzon and Untalan would mention how I need to participate in a raid before I leave the office. I witnessed Atty. Nitoy Lim’s step-by-step application for search warrants. Though I was fairly apprised that I was going to take part in a raid, it turned out to be one of the things that one can never really be prepared for. I just suddenly found myself one morning in the presence of about 30 NBI agents who were buzzing about on how they were going to barge into a bazaar stall. A little later, there I was: a scrawny law student watching the armed NBI agents trying to break open a metal warehouse door with a crowbar. I spend almost all of my time studying indoors. I was very much out of my element when I participated in the raid, but it was an all-together different learning experience. It was good to personally witness IP enforcement, which is a major area of BNU’s practice. BNU is acclaimed for its aggressive enforcement of its clients’ IP rights. As I was browsing through the Philippine Star last July 12, 2008, I saw an article entitled, “NBI Seizes P11-M Fake Lacoste Goods.” The article mentioned that the seizure conducted by NBI was brought about by BNU, the “law firm representing Lacoste in the Philippines.” All in all, I am much honored to have been a part of such a groundbreaking firm in the field of IP Law in the Philippines, and I continuously have a strong sense of pride and support for BNU’s work. |
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