A major victory was captured by Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon amid their legal battle against their former producer, Television and Production Exponents (TAPE) Inc.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) ruled to remove the trademark registration of TAPE Inc. in the Eat Bulaga branding after TVJ’s petition.
According to the decision, TAPE Inc. didn’t refute how TVJ invented the term ‘Eat Bulaga’ as the title of their noontime show.
The court also said that Joey was the one who suggested the name to Romeo Jalosjos Sr. who owned TAPE Inc. and the businessman chose the veteran comedian’s idea.
“Having sufficiently established how Petitioners coined the EAT BULAGA mark, it is Petitioners and not Respondent-Registrant who owns the mark. Considering that Petitioners are the owners, they have absolute and exclusive right to register EAT BULAGA mark and all variations thereto,” the court decision reads.
After the decision, TAPE was not allowed to use Eat Bulaga’s name or logo anymore on the merchandise they were selling, including umbrellas, t-shirts, printed matter, photographs, and more.
The petition was separate from the copyright infringement case filed by TVJ against TAPE Inc. which covered the overall use of Eat Bulaga’s title on television.
As of writing, both camps have yet to release a statement following the decision of IPOPHL