ABS-CBN Corporation vs. Gozon
GR No 195956 March
11, 2015
Facts:
ABS-CBN filed a complaint for
copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Code against GMA-7. The
dispute occurred during the news coverage of the homecoming of the Filipino
overseas worker who has been kidnapped on 2004.
During this time, ABS-CBN and
GMA-& made their respective broadcast and coverage of the live event.
ABS-CBN conducted live audio-video coverage and broadcasted the arrival of
Angelo dela Cruz. It allowed Reuters Television Service to air the footages it
had taken earlier under a special embargo agreement between ABS-CBN and
Reuters.
However, since GMA-7 was also a
subscriber of the Reuters, it also broadcasted the live coverage of Reuters for
the event without any knowledge of the existing embargo agreement between the
two broadcasting companies. Apparently, ABS-CBN has gained knowledge of the use
of its footage by GMA-7 without its authority or permission.
GMA-7 contended that ABS-CBN’s
criminal charges against it could not prosper as there was no intention on
their part to use the news coverage of ABS-CBN on its own network. It claimed
that copyright infringement is malum in se, that there needs to be an intention
to violate the Intellectual Property Code in order to be held criminally
liable.
Issue:
WON violation of Intellectual
Property Code is mala in se or mala prohibita.
Held:
Infringement under the Intellectual
Property Code is malum prohibitum. The Intellectual Property Code is a special
law. The general rule is that acts punished under a special law are malum prohibitum.
Ultimately, if an act is declared malum prohibitum, malice or criminal intent
is completely immaterial.
To clarify, crimes mala in se
presuppose that the person who did the felonious act had criminal intent to do
so, while crimes mala prohibita do not require knowledge or criminal intent.
As Intellectual Property Code is a
special law, the absence of criminal intent on the part of GMA-7 is immaterial.
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