MANILA Express Payments System (MEPS), a company that owns and operates TouchPay machines, has won a string of cases in the arbitral tribunal, courts and Intellectual Property Office (IPO) against firms that infringed on its intellectual property rights.
In a ruling, the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc. (PDRCI) said that MEPS is entitled to recover from BTI Payments Philippines Inc. (BTI) the corresponding amount to the 42 altered kiosks Touchpay machines passed on as Pay&Go.
The PDRCI found BTI guilty of unlawfully copying MEPS’ patent utility model, the TouchPay electronic collection system, in violation of the Intellectual Property Law in conspiracy with Electronic Transfer & Advance Processing Inc. (ETAP).
MEPS accused BTI and ETAP of copying its automated payment machine, leading to a series of raids by the National Bureau of Investigation-Intellectual Property Rights Division (NBI-IPRD) in July 2020 and March 2021.
The raids were carried out under search warrants from Judge Reinalda Estacio-Montesa of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 46, Manila, and Judge Elma Rafallo-Lingan of the Pasig RTC, Branch 159.
During the raids, NBI agents seized several “Pay & Go” kiosk machines from various Metro Manila locations. The machines were found to have an identical flow system and utility model to MEPS’s TouchPay.
TouchPay facilitates electronic transactions for utilities and other payments. Its utility model is registered with the IPO.
The TouchPay machines are protected under patent law, prohibiting their unauthorized use or imitation. Violations can result in fines ranging from P50,000 to P200,000, imprisonment of two to five years, or both, at the court’s discretion.
MEPS had likewise won its infringement and unfair competition case against ETAP in the RTC of Parañaque City.
Judge Noemi Balitaan of Parañaque RTC Branch 258 ruled in favor of MEPS, ordering ETAP and Perservando Hernandez to pay MEPS P3 million in exemplary damages and an additional P200,000 in attorney’s fees, along with other costs incurred by MEPS in filing the case.
The 34-page decision, dated Sept. 26, 2023, stated that ETAP had counterfeit or copied MEPS’s system. MEPS, a company engaged in franchising, distribution, trading, and selling registered and patented information technology products like Touch Pay, proved that ETAP’s automated payment machine Pay & Go violated their registered business process.
Also, Judge Myra Quiambao of the RTC Branch 203 of Muntinlupa issued warrants of arrest against the officers of Xytrix Systems Corp., which owns and operates machines labeled as Xytrix/ZoomPay in connection with the case for Unfair Competition under Section 168.2 of Republic Act 8293 which was filed MEPS. One of the officers of Xytrix, Eric Evangelista, is still at large.
The National Bureau of Investigation-Intellectual Property Rights Division had previously seized several automated payment machines labeled by these companies and operated through ETAP.
Meanwhile, MEPS also scored another victory after the IPO granted its petition for cancellation of Utility Model Registration 2/2018/000939 under the name of ETAP.
The registration covers the utility model entitled “System of Servicing Financial Transactions by Electronic Means.”
In a 28-page decision signed by adjudication officer Mariel Claire Gonzales of IPO’s Bureau of Legal Affairs, it stated that “[a]n examination of the portions of the cited prior art quoted by the petitioner shows that there is correspondence with the elements of Claim 1 in the subject utility model, contrary to the arguments of the respondent-registrant (ETAP).”
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