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

The most significant cases which our legal team has recently been involved in are:

(a) the high impact consolidated anti-counterfeiting raids which we conducted against the Bangladesh Syndicate Group (BSG), with the assistance of the Philippine National Police (PNP), in Baclaran, Pasay City, on 17 November 2022; and

(b) the three Bureau of Customs (BOC) enforcement raids, which we facilitated against the smugglers of counterfeit goods at the Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port and the Port of Subic, from February to March 2023.

The PNP raids resulted in the seizure of counterfeit Golden ABC apparels bearing the company’s trademarks Penshoppe, Regatta and OXGN. Notably, our legal team has successfully prosecuted the arrested BSG members for infringement and unfair competition cases before the local special commercial court. As to the BOC raids, counterfeit Golden ABC apparels were seized at major ports and the BOC was able to indict the smugglers for violations of our laws on tariffs and intellectual property.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

It is very important to engage, and reconsider, external lawyers whose work ethics are aligned with our company’s values. Other than legal expertise, external lawyers must also have (a) the abilities to communicate proactively, (b) the courage to innovative, and (c) the willingness to advocate for meaningful causes. External lawyers should realise that the best way to communicate with a corporate client and address its legal problems is to have an in-depth familiarity of the client’s industry or nature of business. Corollary, external lawyers must be mindful that our company’s business and legal interests should be balanced, at all times.

Moreover, external lawyers in general must explore and utilise the latest legal technologies so that they can modernise their internal business processes and external service offerings to clients. After all, the pandemic and post-pandemic eras have transformed law practice from being an art to a field of science. Lastly, external lawyers should stand for meaningful advocacies which will jive with their corporate clients’ CSR programs, such as our company’s ESG and DEI initiatives for instances. These advocacies will help both the external lawyers and their corporate clients to make their respective operations sustainable and for them to gain competitive edges in the legal market.

If existent, can you talk about you or your company’s efforts on renewability, sustainability, or other environmentally friendly activities?

One of my ESG advocacies, as an intellectual property (IP) law practitioner, is advocating for IP enforcement against environmentally harmful counterfeit products. The syndicates behind the production and trade of these counterfeits have less regard to our environment. Counterfeit products are usually made of hazardous and toxic substances that are prejudicial to the health of consumers and to the environment.

Hence, the essence of IP enforcement operations is no longer limited to brand protection alone. IP enforcement is also an important tool for minimising, if not totally eliminating, the commercial proliferation of counterfeit articles that have negative impacts to our mother nature. Notably, IP enforcement has two-fold ESG purposes: (a) the seizure of counterfeit articles and (b) their proper destruction and responsible disposal.

Meanwhile, Golden ABC and its fashion brands Penshoppe, OXGN, Regatta, Memo, ForMe and Bocu have successfully institutionalised a two-tier ESG approach, i.e., innovation and advocacy. The company is an innovative leader in the national retail industry when it comes to the ethical sourcing of raw materials and the environmentally friendly production of its products. Remarkably, the brands have furthered the company’s innovative ESG strategies through their respective advocacies and campaigns, which primarily focused on the 3Rs of environmental policy (reducing waste, reusing resources and recycling products).