And finally in the Philippines, the Court of Appeals has rejected a plea by car manufacturer Honda to copyright the design of one of it's engines, and has upheld the trial court’s decision to cancel the copyright registrations for Honda’s engine designs that had previously been granted by the National Library. Section 172 (h) of the Philippines Intellectual Property Code (IP Code) provides that copyright protection is available for literary and artistic works that include “original ornamental design or models for articles of manufacture, whether or not registrable as an industrial design, and other works of applied art.” In reaching a decision, both the trial court and Court of Appeals relied on the Supreme Court's decision in Ching vs. Salinas (GR No. 161295, June 29, 2005), which explained that a useful article and industrial design may be copyrightable only if such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of the utilitarian aspects of the article. Here the Court of Appeals further explained that to be copyrightable the design must be capable of existing independently from the article itself, meaning that, at the very least, the design must be able to stand on its own in terms of decorative quality or value. In this case, the Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that the colour-coded components of Honda’s engine do not meet this two-part test, and could not be copyrightable. They were neither artistic creations with incidental utilitarian functions or artistic works incorporated in a useful article. Moreover, the specifications in the copyright applications merely describe the original or unique appearance of the engine, and such appearance cannot be equated to a decorative quality or artistic work. The case is TLA Corporation, et al. vs. Honda Motor Company Ltd. and the National Library (CA-G.R. CV No. 98777, Aug. 5, 2014).
