THE High Court has unanimously reversed the Court of Appeals’ (CA) 2016 decision that granted the application of Kolin Philippines International, Inc. (KPII) to own the “kolin” trademark for the company’s television sets and digital video disc (DVD) players.
In the Supreme Court’s (SC) 38-page decision dated Feb. 9 and made public on Tuesday, it said the trademark applied for by KPII might mislead the public that it is the same mark owned by Kolin Electronics Co., Inc. (KECI) due to their similar dominant feature of the word “Kolin.”
Moreover, both marks apply to similar products of the two companies, with KPII’s mark applied to the company’s television sets and DVD players, and that of KECI’s to automatic voltage regulators, converters, rechargers, stereo boosters, regulated power supplies, step-down transformers, and amplifiers.
The court held that “(t)he existence of likelihood of confusion is already considered as damage” to the rights of KECI.
It likewise reinstated and affirmed the decision of the Intellectual Property Office’s director general in 2002 that declared KECI as the sole owner of its “KOLIN” mark under the Trademark Law.
The SC also disagreed with the reasoning of the CA that the High Court’s decision on the 2015 Taiwan Kolin case — or Taiwan Kolin Corp., Ltd. (TKC) versus KECI — was applicable in the present case.
The SC said that its 2015 decision only allowed TKC to continue its trademark application for “KOLIN,” and that the application of KPII in the present case is for a new trademark, which means that “it is going through an entirely new process of determining registrability.”
“Because this involves a new trademark application and there are new issues arising here which were not decided in the Taiwan Kolin case, the principle of res judicata (a matter that has already been decided by a competent court) in the concept of conclusiveness of judgment does not apply,” it said.
KPII is an air conditioning company in the Philippines while KECI manufactures, assembles, and markets power equipment. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago
