Bienvenido Somera
Villaraza & Angangco (V&A Law)At Villaraza & Angangco (V&A Law), the IP department is co-headed by Bienvenido Somera and Katrina Doble, and is praised for its ability to provide ‘practical solutions’ to its clients. The agile handles the full gamut of IP-related matters from trademark and patent prosecution, through to advising on freedom to operate searches, and border control measures. Additionally, a portion of the team's workload includes matters regarding copyright registration, IP commercialisation and patent invalidation. Its IP litigation practice covers regular court and administrative litigation in relation to both inter partes and IPR violation cases. The group is also skilled in advising IP rights-holders on the online protection of their IP rights. Antonio Miguel Lu is a name to note and Mark Leo Bejemino was promoted to the partnership in January 2023.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The IP Team at V&A Law has been a great help to the company. From trademark filing to enforcement, their reliable professional service always gets the job done. They respond promptly and completely.'
'Overall, very straightforward, professional and timely legal services and we would highly recommend them to individuals and companies looking for a legal team to handle your IP portfolio.’
‘The lawyers of V&A Law are approachable, reliable, and dependable. They are experts in their field and are very professional.'
'The thing that stands out for them is that they provide simple and straightforward solutions to a problem, no matter how complex the problem is. They get the job done and they do it well.’
‘Familiarity with the area of law as well as the practice procedures. They fully answers the questions posed.’
‘They work fast and offer simple and practical solutions.’.
Key clients
- Petron Corporation
- F&CO Co., Ltd.
- Innogen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- ABS-CBN Corporation
- BDO Unibank, Inc.
- Healol Pharmaceuticals Sdn Bhd.
- Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
- Getz Pharma (Phils.) Inc. and Getz Pharma (Pvt.) Ltd.
- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Pan De Manila Food Co., Inc.
Work highlights
- Handled, on behalf of Petron Corporation, administrative and criminal intellectual property rights violation cases before the BLA-IPOPHL and the regular courts in relation to the commercial use of illegally refilled “GASUL”-branded LPG cylinders and LPG cylinders that are confusingly similar to Petron’s own “GASUL” LGP cylinders and products.
- Advised Getz Pharma (Phils.) Inc. on the legal viability of introducing several of its generic pharmaceutical products in the Philippines and prosecutes multiple patent cancellation cases against impeding patents.
- Handling the local trademark portfolios of popular brands such as Samsung, Kia, Paris Croissant, F&F and F&CO, CJ Cheiljedang, Gentle Monster, HYBE/BigHit Music, Samyang, and Telfar.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Katrina Doble
Villaraza & Angangco (V&A Law)Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Bienvenido Somera, Katrina Doble