Pearl & Dean v.

Shoemart
GR 148222, 15 August 2003
Facts:
Pearl & Dean (Phil), Inc. is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of advertising display
units called light boxes. In January 1981, Pearl & Dean was able to acquire copyrights over the
designs of the display units. In 1988, their trademark application for Poster Ads was approved;
they used the same trademark to advertise their light boxes.
In 1985, Pearl & Dean negotiated with Shoemart, Inc. (SM) so that the former may be
contracted to install light boxes in the ad spaces of SM. Eventually, SM rejected Pearl & Deans
proposal.
Two years later, Pearl & Dean received report that light boxes, exactly the same as theirs, were
being used by SM in their ad spaces. They demanded SM to stop using the light boxes and at the
same time asked for damages amounting to P20 M. SM refused to pay damages though they
removed the light boxes. Pearl & Dean eventually sued SM. SM argued that it did not infringe on
Pearl & Deans trademark because Pearl & Deans trademark is only applicable to envelopes and
stationeries and not to the type of ad spaces owned by SM. SM also averred that Poster Ads is
a generic term hence it is not subject to trademark registration. SM also averred that the actual
light boxes are not copyrightable. The RTC ruled in favor of Pearl & Dean. But the Court of
Appeals ruled in favor of SM.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the Court of Appeals is correct in ruling in favor of Shoemart.
HELD:
Yes. The light boxes cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered as either prints,
pictorial illustrations, advertising copies, labels, tags or box wraps, to be properly classified as a
copyrightable; what was copyrighted were the technical drawings only, and not the light boxes
themselves. In other cases, it was held that there is no copyright infringement when one who,
without being authorized, uses a copyrighted architectural plan to construct a structure. This is
because the copyright does not extend to the structures themselves.
On the trademark infringement allegation, the words Poster Ads are a simple contraction of
the generic term poster advertising. In the absence of any convincing proof that Poster Ads
has acquired a secondary meaning in this jurisdiction, Pearl & Deans exclusive right to the use
of Poster Ads is limited to what is written in its certificate of registration, namely, stationeries.