Case Digest (G.R. No. L-24295)
Facts:
General Garments Corporation v. The Director of Patents and Puritan Sportswear Corporation, G.R. No. L-24295, September 30, 1971, the Supreme Court, Makalintal, J., writing for the Court.The case arose from a trademark controversy. General Garments Corporation (petitioner) owned Philippine Registration No. 10059 for the trademark “Puritan,” issued November 15, 1962, covering assorted men’s wear (sweaters, shirts, jackets, undershirts and briefs). On March 9, 1964, Puritan Sportswear Corporation, a Pennsylvania (U.S.) corporation (respondent), filed a petition with the Philippine Patent Office to cancel petitioner’s registration, alleging prior ownership and use of the mark in the Philippines and that petitioner’s registration had been obtained fraudulently in violation of Section 17(c) and Section 4(d) of the Trademark Law (Republic Act No. 166).
On March 30, 1964, petitioner moved to dismiss the cancellation petition chiefly on the ground that respondent — a foreign corporation not licensed to do and not doing business in the Philippines — lacked capacity to maintain such a proceeding before the Patent Office. The Director of Patents denied the motion to dismiss on August 6, 1964, and subsequently denied petitioner’s motion for reconsideration on March 5, 1965. Petitioner then filed the instant petition for review to the Supreme Court seeking relief from the Director’s denial.
In its pleadings and briefs petitioner relied principally on Sections 68 and 69 of the Corporation Law (arguing the license requirement and consequences for unlicensed foreign corporations), the Court’s decision in Mentholatum Co., Inc. v. Mangaliman, and the foreign-rights limitation in Section 37 of the Trademark Law. Respondent invoked prior precedents recognizing a foreign corporation’s right to protect its corporate name and goodwill in the Philippines (notably Western Equipment & Supply Co. v. Reyes and Asari Yoko Co., Ltd. v. Kee Boc) and argued that cancellation under Section 17(c)...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Can a foreign corporation not licensed to do business and not doing business in the Philippines maintain a petition for cancellation of a trademark before the Philippine Patent Office under Section 17(c) of the Trademark Law in relation to Section 4(d)?
- Does Section 37 of the Trademark Law bar a foreign corporation from invoking protections of the Act where the Philippines is not a party to international conven...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)