Rico V. Domingo, Esquire

Rico V. Domingo is admitted to the Philippine Bar (with Rolls of Attorneys Number 27470), the State of New York Bar, United States of America, and the U.S. Federal District Courts (with Attorney Registration No. 2051449), the Philippine Intellectual Property Office, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Domingo engages in a multi- jurisdictional law practice through a Law Firm that bears his name. He concurrently founded a business and competitive intelligence consultancy firm which provides, among others, brand or intellectual property rights protection, risk management services and litigation support.

Mr. Domingo is a consistent Iskolar ng Bayan (Country Scholar) at the University of the Philippines, being a product of the State University’s Elementary School (1964), High School (1968), College of Arts and Sciences (A.B., 1971) and College of Law (1976) from where he obtained his Bachelor of Law degree (Juris Doctor). He was a member of the Editorial Board of the Philippine Law Journal, the Law Review of the U.P. College of Law, and ranked among the top 10 percentile of his original Law Class. He obtained his Master of Laws (LI.M.) degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A., and earned substantial units at the Kelly Business School leading to a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He also undertook intensive Post- Graduate Studies at the Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. specializing in Trade Practice of Trade Policy: Economics, Negotiations and Rule under a combined Faculty of John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

In January 2023, he was elected for a three-year term as the 17th President of the Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP), which is composed of leading IP law firms and individual practitioners in this jurisdiction. IPAP was established with an objective to help promote the protection of intellectual property and to act as national group through which affiliation with the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) and other international organizations could be achieved. Under his watch, the IPAP has initiated a nationwide program to assist pro bono the small, medium and micro industries and business stakeholders in protecting and enforcing their intellectual property rights. The Philippine Group will be the host country in the 2024 APAA Council Meeting in Manila where 2,000 to 2,500 IP lawyers from all over the world are expected to attend.

Also in January 2023, he was designated by the Philippine Supreme Court En Banc Member of the Technical Working Group for the Amendment of Bar Matter No. 850, to review the MCLE Program, and here he envisioned he could contribute to make the continuing legal education of lawyers more meaningful and attuned to the changing legal environment.

Mr. Domingo is the 54th President of the Philippine Bar Association (PBA), the oldest voluntary national organization of lawyers in the Philippines which was founded on April 8, 1891. The PBA counts among its members the crème a la crème of law practitioners in this jurisdiction.

He is the Chairman and Lead Convenor of the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD), Inc. which core advocacy is to effectively address the proliferation in the mass media of disinformation, misinformation and fake news through the Internet and analogous social media platforms.

He has litigated watershed and precedential cases up to the Philippine Supreme Court which are currently landmark jurisprudence in Intellectual Property, Corporation and Remedial Laws. He stands as “Philippine Law Expert” in various international litigation pending before United States and European Union Courts of Justice. He stands as “Philippine Law Expert” in various international litigation pending before United States and European Union Courts of Justice.

An academician, Mr. Domingo has been teaching since 2000 Constitutional Law, Media Law and Ethics, Remedial Law and Intellectual Property Law at the Ateneo School of Law and other premier Law Schools, including the U.P. Law Center. He likewise taught at Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism, Communication Department of the Ateneo de Manila University, and he is a Philippine Supreme Court- accredited Lecturer in its Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE). He is likewise a Lecturer and Faculty of the New York State Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education (CLE) – – a rare and, perhaps, an unprecedented distinction given to a Filipino practicing lawyer and academician in this jurisdiction, and in recognition of Mr. Domingo’s stature in the international legal community.

He is a certified Arbitrator of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Arbitral Tribunal, where he recently adjudicated with a former Supreme Court Chief Justice and a British Queen’s Counsel a major partnership dispute involving high-profile personalities in the auditing industry.

Mr. Domingo was Asia/Pacific Regional Counsel and Deputy Director for Operations of Motion Picture Export Association of America/Motion Picture Association of America headquartered in Singapore with responsibility for 21 countries including the Peoples Republic of China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Following the 1986 EDSA Revolution, he had a brief stint in government service when he was appointed the first Chairman of the Videogram Regulatory Board (now the Optical Media Board) and General Counsel of the Film Board.

He has litigated watershed and precedential cases up to the Philippine Supreme Court which are currently landmark jurisprudence in Intellectual Property, Corporation and Remedial Laws. He stands as “Philippine Law Expert” in various international litigation pending before United States and European Union Courts of Justice.

Mr. Domingo was the Team Leader of the SRI International-Washington, D.C. Research Group and Lead Author of, the substantial findings and recommendations of The Main Report on Improving Adjudication Procedures for the Resolution of Intellectual Property Rights Cases in the Philippines which became the pedagogical blueprint of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 8293) enacted in 1998. He was designated Philippine Expert in a Philippine Judicial Reform Programme on Access to Justice funded by the European Union.

Apart from being the Chair of the Philippine Chapter of NYSBA’s International, Mr. Domingo is a member of NYSBA’s Executive Committee. He is likewise a member of various international organizations including the American Bar Association (ABA) and its Sections of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law, International Law and Practice, Entertainment and Sports Industries, and Law Practice Management, the Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriete Industrielle (AIPPI), the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA), the International Pacific Bar Association (IPBA).

He was recently bestowed the 2023 University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) Presidential Award ‘for his over 40 years of dedication as a public servant, a champion of intellectual property rights, and a defender of human rights; and his passionate support to the UP Fighting Marrons and UPIS Juniors Team”.

A recognized lecturer, Mr. Domingo speaks in various domestic and international fora on international business transactions, cross-border litigation and arbitration and intellectual property rights enforcement and protection. He is currently finishing his unpublished book entitled Definitive Guide to Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement in the Philippines.