CA upholds indictment of Kentex officials for copying Havaianas

The Court of Appeals upheld its November 2015 decision allowing the indictment of officers of Kentex Manufacturing Corporation, the company that burned down in May last year killing more than 70 people dead for making rip-offs of an internationally popular brand of footwear.

In a two-page resolution made public Friday, the appeals court through Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando dismissed the motion for reconsideration filed by Kentex for failure to raise new arguments to warrant a reversal of its previous ruling.

“After a careful perusal of private respondent’s arguments, we find that the latter have not advanced any compelling reason that would warrant the reconsideration of our decision. The question on the existence of grave abuse of discretion raised in the present motion for reconsideration has been already resolved in the affirmative and covered extensively in our decision,” the resolution stated.

The appeals court, in its November 2015 ruling said Kentex should be prosecuted for trademark infringement based on the complaint filed by Sao Paolo Alpargatas S.A. (Spasa), a Brazil-based textile and apparel company, the registered trademark owner of “Havaianas.” Its products are distributed in the country by Terry S.A. Inc.

READ: Kentex under fire anew for copying Havaianas

In its complaint, Spasa said Kentex line of “Havana” sandals copied the colors and designs that are owned and registered by Spasa for its products.

The Caloocan Prosecutors Office dismissed the complaint filed by Spasa as well as the petition for review filed before the Department of Justice which prompted Spasa to take the case to the appeals court.

The appeals court ruling was concurred in by Associate Justices Jose Reyes and Stephen Cruz. RAM

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