PROJECT JURISPRUDENCE

The core issue in the case of MERALCO v. Spouses Sulpicio (G.R. No. 195145. February 10, 2016) is whether MERALCO had the right to immediately disconnect the electric service of the respondents Sulpicio upon discovery of an outside connection attached to their electric meter . RELEVANT FACTS:  On November 5, 1999, MERALCO’s service inspector inspected the respondents’ electrical facilities and found an outside connection attached to their electric meter. The service inspector traced the connection, an illegal one, to the residence and appliances of Nieves, a neighbor and relative. Nieves was the only one present during the inspection and she was the one who signed the Metering Facilities Inspection Report. Due to the discovery of the illegal connection, the service inspector disconnected the respondents’ electric services on the same day. The inspection and disconnection were done without the knowledge of the respondents as they were not at home and their house was closed at t...

[1] It is necessary to determine whether a particular imposition is a tax or a license fee because some limitations apply only to one and not to the other, and for the reason that exemption from taxes may not include exemption from license fee. [2] The power to regulate as an exercise of police power does not include the power to impose fees for revenue purposes. The amount of tax bears no relation at all to the probable cost of regulating the activity, occupation, or property being taxed. For, ordinarily, the higher the amount of stall rentals, the higher the aggregate volume of foodstuffs and related items sold in petitioner's privately owned market; and the higher the volume of goods sold in such private market, the greater the extent and frequency of inspection and supervision that may be reasonably required in the interest of the buying public. Moreover, what we started with should be recalled here: the authority conferred upon the respondent's City Council is not ...

The standards of patentability are: [1] novelty; [2] inventive step; and [3] industrial applicability. Novelty. An invention shall not be considered new if it forms part of a prior art. (Section 23 of Republic Act No. [RA] 8293) Inventive step.  An invention involves an inventive step if, having regard to prior art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art at the time of the filing date or priority date of the application claiming the invention. (Section 26.1 of RA 8293, as amended by RA 9502) Industrial applicability.  An invention that can be produced and used in any industry shall be industrially applicable. (Section 27 of RA 8293)

Trademark, copyright and patents are different intellectual property rights that cannot be interchanged with one another. A trademark is any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods (trademark) or services (service mark) of an enterprise and shall include a stamped or marked container of goods. In relation thereto, a trade name means the name or designation identifying or distinguishing an enterprise. Meanwhile, the scope of a copyright is confined to literary and artistic works which are original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain protected from the moment of their creation. Patentable inventions , on the other hand, refer to any technical solution of a problem in any field of human activity which is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. ( G.R. No. 115758 )

[1] A contract of insurance is a contract of indemnity. However, a view has been expressed that life insurance is NOT a contract of indemnity. [2] The insurer undertakes the obligation for a consideration, the premium paid by the insured. [3] The obligation is to indemnify another (the insured or beneficiary) against loss, damage, or liability. [4] Said loss, damage or liability arises from an unknown or contingent event . What is an unknown or contingent event? A contingent event is one that is not certain to take place. An unknown event is one which is certain to happen, but the time of its happening is not known. A past event may be a designated event only in cases where it has happened already but the parties do not know about it, e.g., prior loss of a ship at sea (applicable only to marine insurance). (De Leon, 2014) Insurance is a contract whereby one undertakes for a consideration to indemnify another against loss, damage or liability arising from an unknown or contingent...

A contract of insurance is an agreement whereby one undertakes for a consideration to indemnify another against loss, damage or liability arising from an unknown or contingent event. A contract of suretyship shall be deemed to be an insurance contract only if made by a surety who or which, as such, is doing an insurance business. Since a contract of insurance involves public interest, regulation by the State is necessary. Thus, no insurer or insurance company is allowed to engage in the insurance business without a license or a certificate of authority from the Insurance Commission. ( G.R. No. 154514 )

A toll is a sum of money for the use of something, generally applied to the consideration which is paid for the use of a road, bridge or the like, of a public nature. (1 Cooley 77) There is a view, however, that the taking of tolls is only another method of taxing the public for the cost of the construction and repair of the improvement for the use of which the toll is charged. (71 Am. Jur. 2d 351)

The exercise of taxation involves four stages. They are the following: [1] Levy or imposition.  This process involves the passage of tax laws or ordinances through the legislature or through a local lawmaking body (e.g. sanggunian). The tax laws to be passed shall determine those to be taxed (person, property or rights), how much is to collect (the rate and the base of tax), and how taxes are to be implemented (the manner of imposing and collecting tax; i.e. tax remedies). It may also include the grant of tax exemptions, tax amnesties or tax condonation. [2] Assessment and Collection.  This process involves the act of administration and implementation of tax laws by the executive through its administrative agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) or Bureau of Customs (BOC). [3] Payment. T his process involves the act of compliance by the taxpayer in contributing his share to pay the expenses of the Government. Payment of tax also includes the options, sche...

[1] The tax must be for a public purpose; [2] The rule of taxation should be uniform; [3] The person or property taxed is within the jurisdiction of the taxing authority; [4] The assessment and collection should be in harmony with the due process clause; and [5] The tax must not infringe on the inherent and constitutional limitations of the power of taxation.

No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship , without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. (Section 5 of Article III of the 1987 Constitution) The second sentence is called the "free exercise clause" or "religious free exercise." The free exercise clause is the basis of tax exemptions. The imposition of license fees on the distribution and sale of bibles and other religious literature by a non-stock, non-profit missionary organization not for purposes of profit amounts to a condition or permit for (a prior restraint on) the exercise of their right, thus violating the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship which carries with it the right to disseminate religious beliefs and informa...

The ruling in Skinner v. State of Oklahoma, ex rel. Williamson ( 316 U.S. 535, 1942 ) ended punitive sterilization. The ratio decidendi did not touch on compulsory sterilization of the mentally disabled or mentally ill and was not a strict overturning of the United State (US) Supreme Court's ruling in Buck v. Bell (1927). Buck v. Bell ruled that a law permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including the intellectually disabled, "for the protection and health of the state," did not violate the due process clause. In short, it was held to be a valid exercise of police power. According to the Court: It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U. S. 11. Th...

This is the case of Skinner v. State of Oklahoma, ex rel. Williamson (316 U.S. 535, 1942). The United States (US) Supreme Court ruled that laws permitting the compulsory sterilization of criminals are unconstitutional if the sterilization law treats similar crimes differently. The relevant Oklahoma law applied to "habitual criminals," but the law excluded white-collar crimes from carrying sterilization penalties. The Court held that treating similar crimes differently violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. (Skinner v. Oklahoma - Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner_v._Oklahoma) Under Oklahoma's Habitual Criminal Sterilization Act of 1935, the state could impose a sentence of compulsory sterilization as part of their judgment against individuals who had been convicted three or more times of crimes "amounting to felonies involving moral turpitude ." The defendant, Jack T. Skinner, had been convicted once for chicken-stealing and twice fo...

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws. (Article III, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution) "Equal protection of the laws" extends to tax laws. All persons subject to legislation shall be treated alike under similar circumstances and conditions both in the privileges conferred and liabilities imposed. (1 Cooley 824-825) At the outset, the Court did not regard the Equal Protection Clause as having any bearing on taxation. It soon, however, entertained cases assailing specific tax laws under this provision, and in 1890 it cautiously conceded that " clear and hostile discriminations against particular persons and classes, especially such as are of an unusual character, unknown to the practice of our governments, might be obnoxious to the constitutional prohibition ." (Cornell Law School) The Court observed, however, that the Equal Protection Clause ...

Due process in taxation requires the following: [1] The tax must be for a public purpose; [2] It must be imposed within taxing authority’s territorial jurisdiction; and [3] The assessment and/or collection is not arbitrary or oppressive. The due process clause may be invoked where a taxing statute is so arbitrary that it finds no support in the Constitution, as where it can be shown to amount to the confiscation of property . ( G.R. No. L-59431 ) The following are examples of violations of the due process clause of the Constitution: [1] If the tax amounts to confiscation of property; [2] If the subject of confiscation is outside the jurisdiction of the taxing authority; [3] If the tax is imposed for a purpose other than a public purpose; [4] If the law which is applied retroactively imposes just and oppressive taxes; and [5] If the law violates the inherent limitations on taxation.

In the Philippines, local government units (LGUs) - provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays - are granted the constitutional power (Section 5, Article X of the Constitution) to create their own sources of revenue. Local governments may levy taxes, fees and charges in accordance with the guidelines and limitations set by Congress and only within the boundaries of their respective territorial jurisdictions. For those local governments under the autonomous regions, their taxing powers are limited and bound by their enabling laws. (The not-so-inherent power to tax Ma. Teresa Ledesma Tax Director, PwC Philippines 02 Jun 2016. www.pwc.com ) The power of LGUs to create their own sources of revenue and to levy taxes, fees and charges is subject to such guidelines and limitations as the Congress may provide which must be consistent with the basic policy of local autonomy. (Article X, Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution) The power to tax is an attribute of sovereignty, and as such...

Copyright or economic rights shall consist of the exclusive right to carry out, authorize or prevent the following acts: [1] Reproduction of the work or substantial portion of the work; [2] Dramatization, translation or adaptation, abridgment, arrangement or other transformation of the work; [3] The first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale or other forms of transfer of ownership ; [4] Rental of the original or a copy of an audiovisual or cinematographic work, a work embodied in a sound recording, a computer program, a compilation of data and other materials or a musical work in graphic form, irrespective of the ownership of the original or the copy which is the subject of the rental; [5] Public display of the original or a copy of the work; [6] Public performance of the work; and [7] Other communication to the public of the work. (Section 177 of the Intellectual Property Code. Republic Act No. 8293. June 6, 1997)

Right granted by statute to the author or originator of literary, scholarly, scientific, or artistic productions, including computer programs. A copyright gives him the legal right to determine how the work is used and to obtain economic benefits from the work. The owner of a copyright for a book or a piece of software has the exclusive rights to use, copy, distribute, and sell copies of the work, including later editions or versions of the work. If another person improperly uses material covered by a copyright, the copyright owner can obtain legal relief. (Rule 2, Copyright Safeguards and Regulations) A copyright is the legal protection extended to the owner of the rights in an original work. Original work refers to every production in the literary, scientific, and artistic domains. The Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL) is the leading agency responsible for handling the registration and conflict resolution of intellectual property rights and to enforce the copyright laws. ...

Patentable inventions refer to any technical solution of a problem in any field of human activity, which is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. It may be, or refer to, any product, process, or an improvement of any of the foregoing. (Section 21, Republic Act No. 8293] It is vested from the issuance of letters of patent. The following shall be excluded from patent protection (Section 22): [1] Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods, and in the case of drugs and medicines, the mere discovery of a new form or new property of a known substance which does not result in the enhancement of the known efficacy of that substance, or the mere discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance, or the mere use of a known process unless such known process results in a new product that employs at least one new reactant. For the purpose of this clause, salts, esters, ethers, polymorphs, metabolites, pure form, particle size, isomers, mix...

CASE DIGEST: [G.R. No.148420 December 15, 2005] ANDREA TAN, CLARITA LLAMAS, VICTOR ESPINA and LUISA ESPINA, Petitioners, v. BAUSCH & LOMB, INC., Respondent. CORONA, J.: FACTS:  On April 8, 1997, an information for violation of paragraph 1, Article 189 6 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) was filed before Branch 21, RTC, Cebu City against petitioners Andrea Tan, Clarita Llamas, Victor Espina and Luisa Espina of Best Buy Mart, Inc. On January 21, 1998, respondent filed a motion to transfer the case to Branch 9, RTC, Cebu City. Administrative Order No. 113-958 (A.O. No. 113-95) designated the said branch as the special court in Region VII to handle violations of intellectual property rights. On March 2, 1998, petitioners filed a motion to quash the information on the ground that the RTC had no jurisdiction over the offense charged against them. The penalty provided by the RPC for the crime was within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC). On December ...

CASE DIGEST: 429 Phil. 140. SECOND DIVISION [ G.R. No. 115758, March 19, 2002 ] ELIDAD C. KHO, DOING BUSINESS UNDER THE NAME AND STYLE OF KEC COSMETICS LABORATORY, PETITIONER, VS. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, SUMMERVILLE GENERAL MERCHANDISING AND COMPANY, AND ANG TIAM CHAY, RESPONDENTS. DE LEON, JR., J.: FACTS:  On December 20, 1991, petitioner Elidad C. Kho filed a complaint for injunction and damages with a prayer for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction, docketed as Civil Case No. Q-91-10926, against the respondents Summerville General Merchandising and Company (Summerville, for brevity) and Ang Tiam Chay. The petitioner’s complaint alleges that petitioner, doing business under the name and style of KEC Cosmetics Laboratory, is the registered owner of the copyrights Chin Chun Su and Oval Facial Cream Container/Case, as shown by Certificates of Copyright Registration No. 0-1358 and No. 0-3678; that she also has patent rights on Chin Chun Su & Device and Chin Ch...

Idem sonans is a legal doctrine whereby a person's identity is presumed known despite the misspelling of his or her name. The presumption lies in the similarity between the Phonology, or sounds of the correct name and the name as written. Such similar-sounding words are called a homonym, while similar-sounding phrases or names would be a holorime. In Latin it means "Sounding the same." Some examples are Seagrave/Segrave, Hutson/Hudson, Coonrad/Conrad, Keen/Keene, and Diadema/Deadema. (Idem sonans From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idem_sonans) And in determining if names are "idem sonans", the test is whether, though names are spelled differently, the attentive ear finds difficulty in distinguishing the name when pronounced. See 20 Words and Phrases, page 8; Vol 1, Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Rawle's Third Revision, page 1484; Black's Law Dictionary; Weiband v. State, 69 Okla. Cr. 79, 100 P.2d 297, 298. ( law.justia.com )

G.R. No. 143193. June 29, 2005 MELBAROSE R. SASOT and ALLANDALE R. SASOT, petitioners, vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, The Honorable court of of appeals, and REBECCA G. SALVADOR, Presiding Judge, RTC, Branch 1, Manila, respondents. AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J.: The case subject of the present special civil action for certiorari is a criminal prosecution against petitioners for unfair competition under Article 189 of the Revised Penal Code, filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila (Branch 1), and docketed as Criminal Case No. 98-166147.1 Some time in May 1997, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted an investigation pursuant to a complaint by the NBA Properties, Inc., against petitioners for possible violation of Article 189 of the Revised Penal Code on unfair competition. In its Report dated June 4, 1997, the NBI stated that NBA Properties, Inc., is a foreign corporation organized under the laws of the United States of America, and is the registered owner of NBA tr...

[1] Copyright; [2] Related Rights of copyright; Copyright refers to the legal right of the owner of intellectual property. In simpler terms, copyright is the right to copy. This means that the original creators of products and anyone they give authorization to are the only ones with the exclusive right to reproduce the work. (Copyright Definition - Investopedia. www.investopedia.com ) Copyright is the exclusive right given to the creator of a creative work to reproduce the work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. (Copyright. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org ) [3] Trademarks and Service Marks; Trademarks and service marks are two versions of a kind of intellectual property - knowledge property. The assert your ownership of these marks, logos, and slogans, and they help you protect them from being stolen.  Most businesses have some kind of identification that makes their bus...

Intellectual property rights are those which result from the physical manifestation of original thought. (Ballantine’s Law Dictionary) Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The most well-known types are copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. Early precursors to some types of intellectual property existed in societies such as Ancient Rome, but the modern concept of intellectual property developed in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. The term "intellectual property" began to be used in the 19th century, though it was not until the late 20th century that intellectual property became commonplace in the majority of the world's legal systems. (Intellectual property. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property ) There are no property rights protect...

[1] The use of property bears a social function, and all economic agents shall contribute to the common good. Individuals and private groups, including corporations, cooperatives, and similar collective organizations, shall have the right to own, establish, and operate economic enterprises, subject to the duty of the State to promote distributive justice and to intervene when the common good so demands. (Article XII, Section 6) [2] The sustained development of a reservoir of national talents consisting of Filipino scientists, entrepreneurs, professionals, managers, high-level technical manpower and skilled workers and craftsmen in all fields shall be promoted by the State. The State shall encourage appropriate technology and regulate its transfer for the national benefit. (Article XII, Section 14) [3] The State shall protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists, and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property and creations, particularly whe...

The State policies regarding intellectual property in the Philippines are: [1] To protect and secure the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists and other gifted citizens to their intellectual property and creations, particularly when beneficial to the people, for such periods as provided in the Intellectual Property Code; [2] To promote the diffusion of knowledge and information for the promotion of national development and progress and the common good; and [3] To streamline administrative procedures of registering patents, trademarks and copyright, to liberalize the registration on the transfer of technology, and to enhance the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the Philippines. (Section 2 of Republic Act No. 8293)

G.R. No. 148222. August 15, 2003. PEARL & DEAN (PHIL.), INCORPORATED (P & D), Petitioner, vs. SHOEMART, INCORPORATED (SMI), and NORTH EDSA MARKETING, INCORPORATED (NEMI), Respondents. CORONA, J.: FACTUAL ANTECEDENTS: Plaintiff-appellant Pearl and Dean (Phil.), Inc. is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of advertising display units simply referred to as light boxes. These units utilize specially printed posters sandwiched between plastic sheets and illuminated with back lights. Pearl and Dean was able to secure a Certificate of Copyright Registration dated January 20, 1981 over these illuminated display units. The advertising light boxes were marketed under the trademark "Poster Ads". The application for registration of the trademark was filed with the Bureau of Patents, Trademarks and Technology Transfer on June 20, 1983, but was approved only on September 12, 1988, per Registration No. 41165. From 1981 to about 1988, Pearl and Dean employed the services of Me...