GR L-36402 March 16, 1987

Filipino Society of o!po"er" , #$thor" an% &$'li"her", (nc) *S +en,a!in -an

PARAS, .)/
Facts:
Defendant Tan was the owner of the restaurant Alex Soda Foundation and Restaurant
wherein a combo was hired to play and sing musical compositions to entertain the
customers. Some of the songs they were playing were Dahil Sayo Sapag!at "!aw ay
A!in Sapag!at #ami ay Tao $amang and the %earness of &ou. Said compositions
which were owned by the 'laintiff Associationwere played without any license or
permission from the plaintiff to play and sing the same. The plaintiff demanded payment
of the necessary license fee from the defendant but such demand was ignored. Thus the
plaintiff filed a complaint with the lower court for the infringement of copyright against
defendant for allowing the playing in such restaurant of said songs copyrighted in the
name of the former. Defendant argued that the mere singing of the songs and popular
tunes e(en if they are copyrighted do not constitute an infringement under the )opyright
$aw . The lower court dismissed the complaint. *n appeal )A certified the case to the
S) for the ad+udication on the legal ,uestion in(ol(ed.
Issue:
WHETHER OR NOT THE PLAYING AND SINGING OF COPYRIGHTED MUSICAL
COMPOSITIONS IN THE SODA FOUNTAIN AND RESTAURANT OF THE APPELLEE
ARE NOT PUBLIC PERFORMANCES FOR PROFIT OF THE SAID COMPOSITIONS
WITHIN THE MEANING AND CONTEMPLATION OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW?
Held:
There was no infringement of the plaintiff-s right in this case. The plaintiff in effect wai(ed
their right in fa(our of the general public when they allowed their intellectual creations to
become property of the public domain before applying for the corresponding copyrights
for the same.
.ased on RA /01 an intellectual creation should be copyrighted 23days after its
publication if made in 4anila or within 03 days if made elsewhere failure of which
renders such creation public property. Thus if the general public use the ob+ect sought
to be copyrighted for 23 days prior to the copyright application the law deems the ob+ect
to ha(e been donated to the public domain and the same can no longer be copyrighted.
"n this case5Dahil Sa "yo5 which was registered on April 63 /710 became popular in
radios +u!e boxes etc. long before registration while the song 5The %earness *f &ou5
registered on 8anuary /9 /711 had become popular twenty fi(e :61; years prior to /70<
:the year of the hearing; or from /792 and the songs 5Sapag!at "!aw Ay A!in5 and
5Sapag!at #ami Ay Tao $amang5 both registered on 8uly /3 /700 appear to ha(e been
!nown and sang by the witnesses as early as /701 or three years before the hearing in
/70<. The testimonies of the witnesses at the hearing of this case on this sub+ect were
unrebutted by the appellant.
The Supreme )ourt held that the songs had long become public property and are
therefore beyond the protection of the )opyright $aw.