Group claims credit, asks compensation for IPOPHL logo design

A group of designers is asking the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) to stop using the logo that it supposedly created for the agency because it had not been given the proper credit and compensation.

"What our group would like to see IPOPHL do is to issue a public apology. Also to restore the logo to its original design or cease from using the design. Should legal action be taken, then we should be compensated accordingly," said brand design specialist John Leyson told GMA News Online.

Leyson is with the Baybayin Buhayin, a group that advocates the study, research, preservation, promotion, and propagation of the ancient Pilipino script, Baybayin, through Taklobo Baybayin Inc.

He said that the Design Center of the Philippines (DCP) invited the group and its founder Jose Jaime Enage to conduct a series of discussions on the Baybayin and its relevance in design in 2011.

The group received a good feedback and DCP Director Myrna Sunico offered its members the opportunity to redesign IPOPHL's logo incorporating Baybayin element/s.

After a week or two, Leyson submitted a proposal to Sunico via email. She then met the group to discuss details and give her comments.

The designer said that Sunico wanted the text to be "IPOPHL" not "IPO PHILIPPINES." She also wanted to include a "bulb" element.

Baybayin Buhayin complied and submitted another version. But they did not receive any updates from Sunico and DCP since then.

"I went to Shanghai for a month and founder Jay Enage was assigned to another Church location and we all got busy and forgot about this issue until one day in Marcos highway that Jay saw a city bus covered with the NEW IPOPHL Logo sporting my design concept," he explained.

A lawyer of the group got in touch with IPO officers and drafted a demand letter to IPOPHL in behalf of the Baybayin Buhayin.

The group asked for the following:
1. Restore the Original Design (as what they have now is an adulterated and poor rendition of the original)
2. Recognize Baybayin Buhayin and the Designer
3. Compensate or Pay for the years that the logo was used without permission

Leyson said that the group eventually met with IPOPHL Deputy Director Atty. Allan Gepty and some board members. He said they were offered an "honorarium" of P600 to P800.

"Of course, we did not agree," he said.

Kristian Kabuay of Baybayin.com also told GMA News Online that he knew about the pitch in 2011.

"About a year later I was told that the logo was lifted from the pitch process. There was a callout to IPO back then but due to some factors, the effort was put aside," he explained.

It was only in April this year that the Baybayin Buhayin group looked into the IPO issue again.

"Letters were sent and etc. but the response was that the logo was just referenced, not copied," Kabuay added.

No exclusive rights to use Baybayin

In a statement posted on its website, IPOPHL denied that it had reached out  to Leyson and his group to revamp its logo.

"It must be stressed that IPOPHL has never met nor transacted with any of the officers or members of the Baybayin Group from conceptualization until finalization of the logo," it said.

The agency added that the design was rather made by the DCP in consultation with IPOPHL officials in August 2011.

"The IPOPHL logo was launched in October 2011 and has been in continuous use to date. The issue on the logo came to the attention of the IPOPHL only on May 25, 2015 or after almost four years from its launching, when Baybayin Buhayin, Taklobo Baybayin, Inc. and John Nicolas Lacap Leyson (herein called Baybayin Group) through its counsel sent a demand letter, demanding, among others, for compensation for the design, concept and use of the logo," it stated.

The agency also said that its officials did not ignore the group. It had set four meetings with Baybayin Group on four separate occasions (June 8 and 24, July 14, and August 3, 2015) to clarify the claims.  

"When asked how the issue could be resolved, the Baybayin Group, in one of the meetings, reiterated their demand that they be compensated and quoted the amount of PhP 500,000, which IPOPHL declined outright, considering that the same had no factual and legal basis," the statement added.   

IPOPHL also pointed out that Baybayin is an ancient script and that no one has the exclusive rights to use it. Even the National Museum, National Library, National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, and Armed Forces of the Philippines use Baybayin in their logos, IPOPHL stressed. —NB, GMA News