Case Digest (G.R. No. 45514)
Facts:
The People of the Philippines v. Francisco Genato, G.R. No. 45514, October 17, 1938, the Supreme Court, Concepcion, J., writing for the Court.
The accused, Francisco Genato, was vice-president and general manager of the Genato Commercial Corporation. He was prosecuted, tried and convicted in the Court of First Instance for violating Act No. 3202, as amended by Act No. 3594, by selling and distributing in Manila cigarettes bearing the trade-mark "Domino" that had been consigned to his corporation, without first registering that trade-mark in the Bureau of Commerce. The trial court sentenced him to pay a fine of P200 or suffer subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, and imposed costs.
The facts were undisputed. In the Court of First Instance the accused interposed a demurrer raising the legal question whether the cited statutes applied to cigarettes manufactured in the United States and imported into the Philippines; the demurrer was overruled and the conviction and sentence followed. The accused appealed to the Supreme Court, raising the same single legal question in his brief: whether compulsory registration under the cited laws extends to imported cigarettes or is limited to locally manufactured products.
At trial and on appeal the appellant argued that the statutes were enacted solely to protect local manufacturers and therefore do not, by their terms or purpose, reach cigarettes manufactured abroad that are merely imported for sale in the Philippines. The prosecution relied on the statutory language and the protective purpose of the registration requirement; it also pointed to the conduct of Larus & Brother Company (the Virginia manufacturer) in subsequently applying to register the "Domino" trade-mark, arg...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Do Act No. 3202, as amended by Act No. 3594, and the related trademark-registration provisions apply to cigarettes manufactured abroad and imported into the Philippines for distribut...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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