Petitioner BJ Productions, Inc.
(BJPI) is the holder/grantee of Certificate of
Copyright No. M922 dated January 28, 1971 of Rhoda and Me, a dating game show
aired from 1970 to 1977. In 1973, petitioner BJPI submitted to the National Library an
addendum to its certificate of copyright specifying the shows format and style
presentation. In 1991, petitioner Francisco Joaquin, Jr., president of BJPI, saw on RPN
9 an episode of Its a Date. He immediately protested the airing of the show through a
letter sent to Grabriel M. Zosa, president and general manager of IXL Productions, Inc.,
the producer of Its a Date. Petitioner Joaquin informed respondent Zosa of a copyright
to Rhoda and Me and demanded that IXL discontinue airing Its a Date. Respondent
Zosa apologized to Joaquin, but continued airing the show. Zosa also sought to register
IXLs copyright to the first episode of Its a Date for which a certificate of copyright was
issued by the National Library on August 14, 1991. With these developments,
petitioners herein filed a complaint against Zosa and other RPN Channel 9 officers as a
result of which an information for violation of P.D. No. 49 was filed before the Regional
Trial Court of Quezon City. Zosa appealed to the Department of Justice. The Secretary
of Justice reversed the prosecutors findings and directed the dismissal of the case.
Petitioner Joaquin filed a motion for reconsideration, but it was denied by the Secretary
of Justice. Hence, this petition. Both public and private respondents maintained that
petitioners failed to establish the existence of probable cause due to their failure to
present the copyrighted master videotape of Rhoda and Me. They contended that
BJPIs copyright covers only a specific episode of Rhosa and Me and that the formats or
concepts of dating game shows were not covered by the copyright protection under P.D:
No. 49.
The Supreme Court ruled that BJPIs copyright covered audio-visual recordings of
every episode of Rhoda and Me, as falling within the class of works mentioned in P.D.
No. 49. The copyright, however, does not extend to the general concept or format of its
dating game show. Accordingly, by the very nature of the subject of petitioner BJPIs
copyright, the investigating prosecutor should have been given the opportunity to
compare the videotapes of the two shows. Mere description by words of the general
format of the two dating game shows is insufficient; the presentation of the master
videotape in evidence was indispensable to the determination of the existence of
probable cause. The petition was therefore dismissed.
COMMERCIAL LAW; INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW; COPYRIGHT; CONSTRUED. Copyright, in
the strict sense of the term, is purely a statutory right. It is a new or independent right granted by the
statute, and not simply a pre-existing right regulated by the statute. Being a statutory grant, the
rights are only such as the statute confers, and may be obtained and enjoyed only with respect to the
subjects and by the persons, and on terms and conditions specified in the statute. Since ...copyright
in published works is purely a statutory creation, a copyright may be obtained only for a work falling
within the statutory enumeration or description. Regardless of the historical viewpoint, it is
authoritatively settled in the United States that there is no copyright except that which is both created
and secured by act of Congress.... P.D. No. 49, Section 2, in enumerating what are subject to
copyright, refers to finished works and not to concepts. The copyright does not extend to an idea,
procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the
form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work. Thus, the new
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES provides: SEC. 175. Unprotected
Subject Matter. - Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 172 and 173, no protection shall extend,
under this law, to any idea, procedure, system, method or operation, concept, principle, discovery or
mere data as such, even if they are expressed, explained, illustrated or embodied in a work; news of
the day and other miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information; or
any official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, as well as any official translation
thereof.
