This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2013-11-20 |
PERLAS-BERNABE, J. |
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| Clearly, it is not the application or registration of a trademark that vests ownership thereof, but it is the ownership of a trademark that confers the right to register the same. A trademark is an industrial property over which its owner is entitled to property rights which cannot be appropriated by unscrupulous entities that, in one way or another, happen to register such trademark ahead of its true and lawful owner. The presumption of ownership accorded to a registrant must then necessarily yield to superior evidence of actual and real ownership of a trademark. The Court's pronouncement in Berris Agricultural Co., Inc. v. Abyadang[42] is instructive on this point: The ownership of a trademark is acquired by its registration and its actual use by the manufacturer or distributor of the goods made available to the purchasing public. x x x A certificate of registration of a mark, once issued, constitutes prima facie evidence of the validity of the registration, of the registrant's ownership of the mark, and of the registrant's exclusive right to use the same in connection with the goods or services and those that are related thereto specified in the certificate. x x x In other words, the prima facie presumption brought about by the registration of a mark may be challenged and overcome in an appropriate action, x x x by evidence of prior use by another person, i.e., it will controvert a claim of legal appropriation or of ownership based on registration by a subsequent user. This is because a trademark is a creation of use and belongs to one who first used it in trade or commerce.[43] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied) | |||||