ANGELITA MANZANO VS COURT OF APPEALS

ANGELITA MANZANO VS COURT OF APPEALS

G.R. NO. 113388

September 5, 1997

PONENTE: Bellosillo, J.

FACTS:

Petitioner Manzano filed with Philippine Patent Office an action for the cancellation of Letters Patent for a gas burner registered in the name of private respondent Madolaria who subsequently assigned the same to private respondent United Foundry. Petitioner alleged that the utility model covered by the letters patent was not inventive, new, or useful, the specification did not comply with the requirements of R.A. No. 165, that respondent was not the original, true, and actual inventor nor did she derive her rights from the same, and that respondent was guilty of fraud or misrepresentation in applying for the letters patent.

Petitioner also alleged that the utility model in question had already been in use and on sale (petitioner herself being a distributor/seller of the said gas burners) in the Philippines for more than one year before the respondent filed for the application. Petitioner presented two undated brochures of two different Gas companies (Manila Gas Corp. & Esso Gasul) which allegedly depicts an identical gas burner as the one covered in respondent’s letters patent. Respondent presented her husband as lone witness to testify that respondent, thru complaints of customers, devised a way to solve the defects in the gas burners, and respondent’s innovation is now the subject of the letters patent.

The Director of Patents denied the petition for cancellation, which was affirmed by the CA, on the ground that petitioner was not able to convincingly establish that the patented utility model was not novel. Petitioner failed to overcome her burden and overturn the presumption of legality of the issuance of letters patent and that respondent withheld material facts with intent to deceive which, if disclosed, would have resulted in the refusal by the PPO to issue the letters patent. Hence, this appeal.

ISSUE: WON the CA erred in upholding the decision of the Director of Patents.

RULING: NO. In issuing Letters Patent to respondent Madolaria for an LPG Burner, the PPO found her invention novel and patentable. The issuance of such patent creates a presumption which yields only to clear and cogent evidence that the patentee was the original and first inventor. The burden of proving want of novelty is on him who avers it and the burden is a heavy one which is met only by clear and satisfactory proof which overcomes every reasonable doubt.

As found by the Director of Patents, the standard of evidence sufficient to overcome the presumption of legality of the issuance of letters patent to respondent Madolaria was not legally met by petitioner in her action for the cancellation of the patent. The findings and conclusions of the Director of Patent were reiterated and affirmed by the Court of Appeals. The rule is settled that the findings of fact of the Director of Patents, especially when affirmed by the Court of Appeals, are conclusive on this Court when supported by substantial evidence.

The validity of the patent issued by the PPO in favor of private respondent and the question over the inventiveness, novelty and usefulness of the improved model of the LPG burner are matters which are better determined by the PPO. The technical staff of the Philippine Patent Office composed of experts in their field has by the issuance of the patent in question accepted private respondents model of gas burner as a discovery. There is a presumption that the Office has correctly determined the patentability of the model and such action must not be interfered with in the absence of competent evidence to the contrary.