The lawyers of Dynamic Development Corporation, operators of Lee Super Plaza and HyperMart, the two biggest department stores in Dumaguete City, are asking the court to invalidate two search warrants that the National Bureau of Investigation used two years ago to confiscate 1,165 pairs of Avia shoes, which were alleged to be fake products.

Lawyer Richard William Sison told the DAILY STAR that no case has yet been filed against his clients since the NBI raided the two department stores in July 2004, leading them to wonder what that raid was all about.

In a supplemental motion filed before the Regional Trial Court Branch 40, Sison said that there were irregularities in the implementation of the search warrants, such as the failure of the NBI agents to render a proper inventory of the seized articles to the court. They also said that the absence of criminal action against their client indicates that no crime has been committed and thus, the search warrants are illegal.

The raids were carried out by a team from the Manila NBI office, acting on the instance of American Sporting Goods, the distributor of Avia shoes, through the Quisumbing Torres law offices, who complained of trademark infringement.

Sison said the Avia shoes seized from Lee Plaza and Hypermart were not fake goods and were backed by the proper papers from the duly authorized manufacturers and sellers in Singapore. "We bought those shoes from Singapore in 2003 when the Avia brand was still unheard of in the Philippines," explained Edward Lee, owner of Lee Plaza.

Sison said the accusation that his clients were selling fake goods had hurt their reputation. "We are not selling and we will never sell counterfeit products," Sison assured.

The seized shoes were to be held in trust by the NBI in their Dumaguete City office but Sison said they were surprised to learn that the shoes were shipped to Manila without a court order.

The American Sporting goods, as of Friday, had yet to answer the motion of the Lee Plaza counsels.*

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