Fiscal junks raps in payment machine row

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila city prosecutor has dismissed complaints of utility model infringement and unfair competition filed by Manila Express Payments Systems Inc. (MEPS) against the officers of Electronic Transfer and Advance Processing Inc. (eTAP) and the BTI Payments Philippines Inc. for insufficient evidence.

In a 14-page resolution dated Dec. 28, 2020, Assistant City Prosecutor Roberto Indunan said MEPS failed to establish evidence of its claims that consumers were misled by the similarity in the general appearance of BTI, eTAP and MEPS’ TouchPay payment machines.

Indunan also noted that operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)’s intellectual property rights division failed to execute affidavits to confirm the items they confiscated from the machines.

“There is also no evidence showing that when the confiscated machines were operated such indeed showed or exhibited an imitation of the utility model flow of that of complainant MEPS,” he said.

In a statement, TouchPay said it has been aggressive in cracking down on alleged “fake” machines and filing cases against competing payment kiosk providers through the NBI’s intellectual property division.