Stare decisis

  I bought a purple-colored broom or   walis tambo at the Baguio City Public Market   in solidarity with the women vendors during the celebration of the International Women’s Day last May 8. The Baguio public market has been a cultural symbol of the city since it was   established in 1913. Located at the lower end of Session Road along Magsaysay Avenue,   this traditional market is a sensory experience with a    maze of shops selling souvenir items like   colorful native handwoven bags, textiles, wood carvings, walis tambo,    specialty foods and the buzz of bargaining between vendors and shoppers. With a total land area of about 3.25 hectares, the market has been a major trading center for more than a hundred years for products from the Cordillera region, including vegetables, fruits, meat, flowers, and coffee. The market is   made of six postwar structures finished with the same Baguio stone used in the earlier market bu...

A finding of similarity does not necessarily equate to a finding of similarity “that is likely to confuse the ordinary purchaser .” This was the ruling of the Supreme Court   in Innolab Industries, Inc.,, Vs. United Laboratories, Inc. (August 5. 2025 G.R No. 257075 )   that involved the "INNOLAB"   and   "UNILAB" marks. The case involved the application for the "INNOLAB" mark   covering the following goods under the Nice Classification (NCL): (a) Class 3 – soaps, perfumery, oils, cosmetics and cosmetic preparations, personal care, skin care and hair products; and (b) Class 5 – pharmaceutical and sanitary preparations, food supplements, cosmetics and household hazardous substance products. Unilab argued that Innolab's mark was confusingly similar to its own registered, well-known, and established trademark. Although   the application for trademark registration   before the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines   (IPO) was denied p...