The Supreme Court on 5 July 2006  rejected a claim of trademark infringement by US-based Philip Morris and its two sister companies against Philippine tycoon Lucio Tan's cigarette company Fortune Tobacco.

Philip Morris together with Benson & Hedges (Canada) and the former Fabriques de Tabac Reunies had asked the Supreme Court in 2003 to reverse rulings by an appeals court and a lower tribunal that found Fortune Tobacco didn't violate trademark rules in its manufacture and sale of cigarettes under the "Mark" brand.
Philip Morris is the registered owner of "Mark VII" trademark, Benson & Hedges has registered the "Mark Ten" brand, and Fabriques is assignee of the "Lark" trademark.
The Philip Morris group filed a case for damages against Fortune Tobacco with the lower court in 1982. The Supreme Court said it rejected the Philip Morris group's plea because the group failed to show it actually used the trademarks in the Philippines prior to Fortune Tobacco's usage of the "Mark" brand, or that Fortune Tobacco's action resulted in consumer confusion. "Evidence of non-usage of the mark rebuts the presumption of trademark ownership, as what happened here when petitioners no less admitted not doing business in this country," the court ruled. The high court also rejected Philip Morris' claim that Fortune Tobacco's action was a violation of the Intellectual Property Code since the code only took effect in 1998, while the trademark infringement case started in 1982.