Habana v. Robles

• Parties involved


  • Pacita I. Habana, Alicia L. Cinco, and Jovita N. Fernando (petitioners)
  • Felicidad C. Robles and Goodwill Trading Co., Inc. (respondents)
• Allegations made by petitioners


  Plagiarism and copyright infringement by respondents
• What petitioners discovered


  Several pages of respondents' book were similar or copied from petitioners' book
• Trial court decision


  Dismissed the complaint of the petitioners
• Court of Appeals decision


  Affirmed the judgment of the trial court
• Supreme Court ruling


  Ruled in favor of the petitioners, finding that the respondents committed copyright infringement
• Supreme Court order


  Remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings to determine the damages caused to the petitioners
• Supreme Court emphasis on copying


  Copying alone is not prohibited, but it must produce an 'injurious effect' to constitute infringement
• Factors considered by Supreme Court

  Provisions of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines that govern copyright protection and limitations on copyright
• Dissenting opinion argument


  although there are similarities between the defendant's work and the plaintiffs' work, they do not constitute copyright infringement, especially if the similarity results from the fact that both works deal with the same subject of have the same common source, as in this case.
• what is the 'injury' in this case?


  The injurious effect was caused by Robles, who lifted materials from the petitioners' book without proper acknowledgment or permission, and then circulated the book for commercial use.
• animus furandi


  the intent to steal
• • To allow another to copy the book without appropriate acknowledgment is injury enough.
• According to the Supreme Court, to what extent can copying be injurious to the author of the book being copied?

  In cases of infringement, copying alone is not what is prohibited. The copying must produce an "injurious effect" to the author being copied.
• In this case, what is the "injurious effect" to the author?


  The injury was caused by Robles lifting from petitioner's book materials that were the result of the petitioner's research work and compilation and misrepresented them as her own. She circulated the book DEP for commercial use and did not acknowledge petitioners as her source.
• What was Robles' indicia of guilt or wrongdoing?

  Robles withdrew the book "DEP" from Goodwill bookstores upon receiving the complaint from the petitioners, while hypocritically rejecting their demand. When the book was reissued with revisions, all pages referenced by the petitioners were removed, which contained portions of their book "College English for Today".
• give me the facts of the case