ASTERIA I. MERCADO, B.S. ChE heads the patent department of the Law Firm of E.B. Astudillo and Associates. Mrs. Mercado has vast experience in drafting and the prosecution of patent applications, particularly in the field of food and agriculture, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemistry, chemical technology, and other related fields. She is highly skilled in providing expert advice on patentability, patent availability, patent validity and enforceability, and infringement issues. Her expertise includes client counseling on matters involving patent commercialization and exploitation. With her proficiency, she assists in special projects requiring extensive knowledge of and experience on patent examining practice and procedure of the Bureau of Patents, Intellectual Property of the Philippines (IPO).

Mrs. Mercado honed her expertise in patents when she worked at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPO) starting as a Patent Researcher, thereafter as Patent Examiner, and finally Chief Patent Examiner of the Chemical Examination Division of the Bureau of Patents. She joined the Law Firm of E.B. Astudillo & Associates in 1990.

Mrs. Mercado regularly attends local and foreign intellectual property conventions in order to be acquainted with developments in intellectual property law, in particular, the annual meetings of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA). While connected with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the Philippines, she attended WIPO–sponsored training programs in Japan, Sweden and other countries.

Mrs. Mercado is actively engaged in promoting intellectual property information dissemination through the Philippine Association of Chartered Patent Agents (PACPA), of which she is a founding member and an officer, She is also an active member of the ASEAN Intellectual Property Association (AIPA), Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP) and the Philippines Institute of Chemical Engineers, Inc. (PICHE).

Mrs. Mercado holds a B.S. Chemical Engineering degree, 1972 from Mapua Institute of Technology and a Master of Statistics degree from the University of the Philippines in 1981.