SANRIO vs.

LIM
G.R. No. 168662 February 19, 2008
FACTS:
Sanrio (Sanrio) Company Limited filed before the Task-Force on AntiIntellectual Property Piracy (TAPP) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) a
complaint against Edgar Lim, doing business as Orignamura Trading for
violation of Section 217 of the Intellectual Property Code on the grounds of
infringement of copyrighted animated characters through selling imitations
of products bearing said works.
Lim, respondent in this case, avers such allegation as he was only a retailer
of the said products and that he obtained his merchandise from JC Lucas
Creative Products, Inc., Paper Line Graphics, Inc. and Melawares
Manufacturing Corporation, which are authorized local manufacturers of such
Sanrio products.
However, evidence showed that some of the items seized during the search
are not among those products which Gift Gate, Inc., exclusive distributor of
Sanrio in the Philippines, authorized these manufacturers to produce.
The TAPP, DOJ and the Court of Appeals all denied favor to petitioner Sanrio
as these quasi-judicial and judicial bodies stood on the failure of the
petitioner to comply with the requisites of Section 217, to wit: (1) possession
of the infringing copy; and (2) knowledge or suspicion that the copy is an
infringement of the genuine article. The petitioner failed to prove that
respondent knew that the merchandise he sold was a counterfeit.
Respondent, on the other hand, was able to show that he obtained these
goods from legitimate sources.
As such, the petitioner filed a petition for certiorari to set aside the decision
of the Court of Appeals.
ISSUE:
Whether or not for someone to be guilty of infringement of a copyrighted
product, such must have knowledge of that such product is only a counterfeit
of the original and that such must not come from legitimate sources.
HELD:
No. Any person is liable for copyright infringement, even if he did not know
and/ or he obtained his merchandise from legitimate sources, as long as he
sold counterfeit goods.