Biography
Reena Mitra-Ventanilla is a partner in Quisumbing Torres’ Intellectual Property, Data and Technology Practice Group. She is a member of the Consumer Goods & Retail and Financial Institutions Industry Groups. She has 16 years of experience handling intellectual property and technology matters. She is currently the corporate secretary of the Philippine Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society International and the corporate secretary of the Philippine Franchise Association, where she also serves as the head of its Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Committee. She has been appointed as a member of the INTA Bulletins Committee for the term 2024 to 2025. She is also an active member of the Women Inter-Industry Network. She co-chairs the Committee on Intellectual Property Rights of the European Chamber of Commerce.
Reena is cited as Next Generation Partner in Intellectual Property by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020 to 2024, IP Expert by Asia IP, 2020 to 2023, Leading Individual for Prosecution and Strategy by World Trademark Review 1000, 2021 to 2023, and Leading Individual for Patent by IAM Patent 1000, 2022 to 2023. More recently, she has been ranked Trademark Star by Managing IP's IP Star for 2023, and Band 4 for Intellectual Property by Chambers Asia Pacific.
Practice Focus
Reena's practice focuses on intellectual property-related issues and concerns, including brand management, intellectual property litigation and enforcement, and intellectual property and technology transactions. She also works on data privacy matters, technology transfer arrangements and licensing, patents, copyrights and other intellectual property and technology issues. She has represented clients in the technology, pharmaceutical, personal care, consumer goods, fashion, food, entertainment, automotive and retail industries.
Representative Legal Matters
- Successfully obtained for a global manufacturer of construction and heavy equipment and vehicles favorable rulings in courts of first instance in an Unfair Competition and Trademark Cancellation civil case and in an Unfair Competition criminal case against a respondent that fraudulently obtained a trademark registration in the Philippines for an exact duplicate of client's brand name and logo and engaged in the widespread manufacture and sale of footwear and garments using client's brand name and logo.
- Conduct for the local franchisee of an American casual dining restaurant and coffee retailer and wholesaler the intellectual property portion of the due diligence in relation to potential acquisition of a company operating a famous fast food chain in several countries including the Philippines.
- Assist a Singaporean electrical and household appliance company in connection with its patent applications in the Philippines for novel designs, shapes and configurations of massage chairs.
- Advise a Philippine subsidiary of a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company on the possibility of extending the life of its patents. Conduct extensive research on all recorded patent registrations and applications. Discuss Republic Act No. 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, as well as the Revised Guidelines on the Examination of Pharmaceutical Applications Involving Known Substances (QUAMA Guide) in relation to how client can maintain patent protection for medicines.
- Represent a multinational Japanese company before the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) of the IPO in the opposition case against the registration of a mark that is confusingly similar to client’s well-known and registered mark. Successfully obtained a ruling from the BLA sustaining the opposition and refusing the registration of the third-party mark.
- Successfully obtained a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of the Philippines for a leading barbecue fast food restaurant chain in the Philippines, in relation to an opposition case against the application for registration of a trademark in the name of a local company, which is confusingly similar to the client's famous mark.
- Successfully represented a global food and beverage chain in investigation of and enforcement actions against local establishments using the client's well-known name and marks.
- Represented the largest fast food chain in the Philippines before the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) of the IPO in two different opposition cases against the registration of third-party marks that are confusingly similar to the client’s registered and well-known mark.
- Assisted a European furniture company on its franchising arrangement to ensure compliance with Philippine IP and licensing laws. In order to guarantee the enforceability of the franchising agreement, our firm also handled the pre-clearance of the agreement with the DITTB of the IPO.
- Advised a leading South Korean eco-friendly cosmetics brand on technology transfer arrangement between client and a leading shopping mall in the Philippines. Advised on data privacy requirements, registration with the National Privacy Commission, data sharing and outsourcing in relation to the proposed business model operations in the Philippines.
Professional Honors
- Next Generation Partner for Intellectual Property, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2020 to 2024
- Next Generation Lawyer for Intellectual Property, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2017 to 2019
- IP Experts, Asia IP, 2020 to 2023
- Trademark Star, ManagingIP IP Star, 2023
- Silver, Leading Individual for Prosecution and Strategy, World Trademark Review 1000, 2023 to 2024
- Bronze, Leading Individual for Prosecution and Strategy, World Trademark Review 1000, 2021 to 2022
- Highly Recommended Individual, IAM Patent 1000, 2022 to 2023
- Band 4 for Intellectual Property, Chambers Asia Pacific, 2024
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) – Member
- European Chambers of Commerce of the Philippines – Co-chair, Intellectual Property Rights Committee
- Integrated Bar of the Philippines – Member
- International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) – Member
- Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP) – Member
- International Bar Association – Member
- Licensing Executives Society (LES) Philippines – Corporate Secretary
- Philippine Franchise Association – Corporate Secretary
- U.P. Women Lawyers Circle – Member
- U.P. Portia Sorority – Member
Admissions
Philippines (2007)
Education
University of the Philippines (LLB) (2006)
University of the Philippines (AB Psychology) (2001)