What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The most significant cases which The Penshoppe Group has recently championed are the two major anti-counterfeiting raids which it initiated against big time Chinese and Bangladeshi syndicates in the Philippines. These high-profile IP enforcement actions were done through the assistances of the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs and the National Committee of Intellectual Property Rights. By way of background, the pandemic has undeniably aggravated the counterfeiting activities in the fashion industry; infringers migrated their operations from physical stores to various online platforms like social media and e-commerce sites. The seemingly uncontrollable proliferation of counterfeit products in the cyberspace has made it more complicated, difficult, and costly for brand owners, like The Penshoppe Group, to initiate enforcement and prosecution actions against IP violators. But unlike its counterparts and contemporaries from other firms and organiations, The Penshoppe Group’s Intellectual Property Desk and Market Watch Enforcement Teams, which I directly supervised, did not succumb to the myriad of challenges in enforcing the company’s IP rights. Our team understood that we must streamline and formulate new legal strategies – which must be fast, practical, cost-effective, bespoke, and aligned with the interests of The Penshoppe Group. Corollary, with the solid support from The Penshoppe Group’s VP for Human Capital and Corporate Affairs, Ted Belza, and the LRD Director, Suzie A. Fernandez, the team successfully conducted intensive in-house market surveillances against the infringers. These surveillances eventually yielded to two high profile raids: (a) on 15 November 2021 in QQ Mall, Quaipo, Manila and (b) on 11 May 2022 in Maclane Storage Facilities, Bacoor City, Cavite. The QQ Mall raid resulted into the seizure of counterfeit goods worth approximately US$903,138.50, while the Maclane raid rounded up with an estimated US$10,657,034.30 worth of seized contrabands.

What are some of the main legislative or regulatory changes that have impacted you?

The Supreme Court of the Philippines has recently promulgated a series of pertinent and relevant rules in line with the changing landscape of law practice. Personally, the 2020 Revised Rules of Procedure for Intellectual Property Rights Cases has positively impacted me as an IP practitioner and in-house counsel as well. Remarkably, the revised rules were promulgated to (a) further promote the development of domestic and creative activities, (b) to conveniently facilitate the transfer of technology among stakeholders, (c) to attract and encourage foreign investments, and (d) to protect domestic businesses by ensuring uninterrupted market access to their products. Most importantly, the revised rules were promulgated to expedite the resolution of disputes involving intellectual property rights like infringement and unfair competition cases.