Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Frites,
Inc.
are
Issue/s:
Whether or not the Respondent has the legal capacity to sue for the
protection of its trademarks albeit it is not doing business in the
Philippines
Ruling:
YES. Section 160 RA No. 8293 provides for the right of foreign
corporations to sue in trademark or service mark enforcement action,
provided that it meets the requirements under Section 3 thereof, which
are:
a.
Any
convention,
treaty
or
agreement
relation
to
intellectual property right or the repression of unfair
competition wherein Philippines is also a party; and
b.
An extension therein of reciprocal rights. Moreoever,
under the Paris Convention, which governs the protection
of well-known trademarks, is a self-executing provision
and does not require legislative enactment to give it
effect in the member country.
The essential requirement
therein is that the trademark must be well-known in the
country where protection is sought.
In this case,
Director Beltran-Abelardo found that In-n-out Burger and
Arrow Design is an internationally well0known mark as
evidenced by its trademark registrations around the world
and its comprehensive advertisements therein.