Multinational tobacco firm JTI Philippines called for a sustained response against rampant violations of the intellectual property or IP rights of legitimate businesses as it lauded the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines for its recent victory in prosecuting IP crimes.

JTI Philippines general manager John Freda, in lauding IPOPHL stated, “At JTI, we are very pleased to see such IP adjudication in action and coordination amongst the relevant parties, notably IPOPHIL.”

“We all need to work together to permanently close the door on opportunities for criminal networks to sell their unregulated products, which undermine legitimate businesses and lead to lost tax revenue since cigarette smuggling deprives government of between P30 billion to P60 billion pesos annually in the Philippines,” Freda added.

The latest case filed and prosecuted by IPOPHL was resolved after years of proceedings and culminated in the destruction of over P20 million of counterfeit Winston cigarettes in a waste management facility in Porac, Pampanga.

In a statement issued last week of February, the IPOPHL reported that 261 master cases of counterfeit Winston brand cigarettes were destroyed at a non-hazardous waste management facility last 30 January. The counterfeit cigarettes were seized in 2013 by law enforcement units led by the National Bureau of Investigation from a Pasay City storage building belonging to a certain “Feliciano Ching” — which turned out to be an alias.

IPOPHL took years to adjudicate the case because “Ching’s” true identity and whereabouts could not be ascertained.

In 2020, the IP agency issued its ruling in favor of Japan Tobacco, Inc., the trademark owner of Winston, with the Certificate of Finality being issued early this year — paving the way for the destruction of the seized contrabands.