CA clears GMA Network

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has junked the case filed by ABS-CBN Corp. against GMA Network, Inc. for what was claimed to be illegal copying of its live video footage of the arrival of hostage victim Angelo dela Cruz from Iraq in 2004.

In a 14-page ruling issued last Monday, the fourth division of the appellate court has set aside the resolution of the Department of Justice issued last June 29 by then Sec. Alberto Agra, which approved the filing of violation of RA 8293 (Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines) against GMA.

The CA instead reinstated the earlier DOJ resolution dated Aug.1, 2005 issued by then Sec. Raul Gonzalez, which was reversed by Agra upon appeal of ABS-CBN.

The appeals court agreed Sec. Gonzalez was correct in clearing GMA executives — chairman, president and CEO Felipe Gozon; EVP and COO Gilberto Duavit Jr.; SVP for News and Public Affairs Marissa Flores; VP for News Jessica Soho; News Operations head Grace dela Peña-Reyes; and program manager John Oliver Manalastas for supposed violation of Sections 177 and 211 of the RA 8293.

It ruled that the act of GMA in airing the five-second footage was attended by good faith since there was no intention to cause injury to its rival network.

“Petitioners cannot be plausibly faulted for airing the live video feed that it had received from Reuters and CNN. Without malice and intent to cause injury to the private respondent, the act of petitioners in airing the disputed footage was simply founded on their belief that as a subscriber of said television services, they are allowed and contractually entitled to use the footage,” the CA said in the ruling penned by Associate Justice Josefina Guevara-Salonga.

The CA said it has found that GMA acted in good faith when it decided to immediately stop using the video footage upon realizing that its rival was actually covering said news event and its subsequent effort to verify the latter’s embargo agreement with Reuters.

Associate Justices Mariflor Punzalan Castillo and Franchito Diamante concurred with the ruling.

The CA stressed that apart from lack of intent of GMA to grab the video from ABS-CBN, the act also cannot be considered violation of Sections 212.4 and 185.1 of RA 8293 since it was just a short excerpt compared to the entirety of the subject new footage.

Records show that both ABS-CBN and GMA networks made their respective broadcasts and coverage of the arrival of dela Cruz in July 22, 2004.

ABS-CBN aired a live audio-video coverage of the arrival of dela Cruz at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the subsequent press conference.

The video was carried by Reuters Television Service through a contract on the condition that any footage coming from it would be considered by the latter under “embargo” against use but its other subscribers in the country.

GMA, being a subscriber of both Reuters and CNN, was able to receive the live video feed of the coverage of said arrival that was beamed by Reuters from the NAIA.

Immediately, GMA carried the Reuters feed in its flash news report simultaneously with its own live broadcast.

GMA later explained that it did notice that what Reuters was airing were footage of ABS-CBN and that said live video was under embargo in favor of the latter.

The appellate court noted that it was established that Reuters, contrary to usual practice, did not inform the petitioners of the embargo in favor of ABS-CBN.