Makati court junks piracy raps vs businessman

A Makati City court dismissed a case filed against a businessman for allegedly selling imitations because of a procedural lapse committed by the National Bureau of Investigation.

In a statement, the Corporate Management Associates (CMA) said Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 56 Judge Reynaldo Laigo recently dropped the charges against Antonio Patron for allegedly violating section 168.2 of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.

The case against Patron, owner of Cytel Philippines Enterprises, was filed by United States-based Hewlett-Packard Co. The court reportedly said that the prosecution failed to establish the guilt of the accused.

“Patron was able to prove that he has been an independent, registered and licensed businessman since 1987, as a dealer of consumable office items, specially computer products,” the CMA said.

The CMA said one of the reasons cited by the court for clearing Patron was the NBI’s failure to surrender the alleged imitation computer products, which it had confiscated, to the bureau’s evidence custodian, Ofelia Montano, within the prescribed 24-hour period.

“What were represented to be the seized items were surrendered to the evidence custodian only three days later, on Sept. 27, by the head of the NBI team. The evidence custodian noted that the NBI leader tried to alter the date ‘27’ to ‘24’ on her receipt, and she protested,” the CMA said.