A lawyer believed that while Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE Inc) claimed that they owned the rights to use the ‘Eat Bulaga’ title, the founding host of the noontime show, Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon has still the upper hand on the trademark issue.
One of the officials of TAPE Inc. claimed that they filed a trademark for Eat Bulaga branding in 2011, so they have all the rights to use the title even if TVJ already left the show.
“Syempre, kami po ang nag-trademark niyan ‘nung 2011. And we also had another application 1991. So just the fact na walang iba na nag-oppose. None of them, none of the TVJs, No one oppose our filing for the trademark of Eat Bulaga, it just means to say na talagang it’s clear. The name stays with us, the company and with the incorporation. So hindi po talaga pwedeng madala po ‘yung Eat Bulaga,” the official said.
Atty. Mark Tolentino of Pinoy Legal Minds cited a Supreme Court decision that anyone who registered the trademark first was the one who rightfully owned the brand.
While Tolentino said that TAPE Inc. already registered to Eat Bulaga trademark to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), he mentioned that it was already set to expire on June 14, 2023.
He also said that TAPE only filed a trademark for the ‘merchandising rights’ of Eat Bulaga and not ‘Entertainment Services’.
Because of this, TAPE only has the right to sell Eat Bulaga merchandise and it doesn’t give them the right to use the current title of the noontime show.
He then mentioned that Atty. Tony Tuviera who was part of the TVJ faction, already filed a trademark for merchandising and entertainment services rights, while Joey de Leon filed for entertainment services only.
According to him, there’s no move from TAPE yet to renew their previous registration and there’s a possibility that it will be rejected if ever that TVJ already made their move.
“Pwedeng i-approve yan, pwede ring i-deny basta ang sabi ng batas, until June 2023 ang ownership TAPE incorporated sa Eat Bulaga brand, but it only refers to Merchandising right,” Atty. Tolentino said.
TVJ already took the service of DivinaLaw, a sign that they’re really serious about claiming the Eat Bulaga trademark.
However, Tolentino said that TVJ should have already registered Eat Bulaga many decades ago to avoid the problem.
Copyright and trademark is also different issues because while copyright favors the one who created the brand, trademark favors the one who registered first.
“Kung ang issue natin dito ay about ‘kami ang una’ yes relevant yon kapag ang pinag-uusapan ay copyright, kasi ang sabi ng batas ‘in the moment of creation’ yun ang proteksyon ng copyright. But kung trademark ang pinag-uusapan, yung logo o brand ang pinag-uusapan, ownership is thru registration,” the lawyer said.