A Cebu City judge convicted a Chinese national of two criminal cases involving the distribution and sale of counterfeit cigarettes.
The accused, Sunxu Zhou, was found guilty for violating Sections 155 and 155.1 (Trademark Infringement) of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines or Republic Act 8293.
Zhou, also known as alias Lucky Legaspi Santos and Lao Chiu, was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Cebu City on August 13, 2018 conducted by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG)-Region 7.
A civilian informant who tipped off the PNP-CIDG acted as the poseur-buyer.
In a decision on August 27, 2024, Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Ramon B. Daomilas Jr. of the 7th Judicial Region, Branch 11 ruled that “for lack of cooperation and coordination on the part of the accused, the defense waived its right to present evidence and rested it cases.”
The court found the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced him to four years imprisonment and fined P400,000 for the two cases filed by a cigarette company.
The prosecution charged Zhou for “deliberate intent, willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously distribute, sell and/or offer for sale” two master cases of counterfeit cigarettes.
During the trial, the court issued a hold-departure order against Zhou.
On June 8, 2022, the defense manifested that the accused failed to coordinate with them and that he was nowhere to be found or located despite efforts to contact him.
Under the Intellectual Property Code, any person who uses a “reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of a registered mark” without consent of the mark’s owner for commercial purposes may be liable for trademark infringement.