The company will appeal the decision.
On Wednesday, December 6, the legal counsel of Television and Production Exponents, Inc. or TAPE, Inc. shared how the company will handle the cancelation of its trademark covering the title ‘Eat Bulaga’.
According to Atty. Maggie Garduque, “TAPE has a period of 15 days to appeal the decision of the adjudicator to the Director of the BLA-IPO. Then, appealed decision may still be appealed to the Director General of the IPO within 30 days.“
TAPE also said that it will continue to use the title ‘Eat Bulaga’ pending its appeals before the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). The company also hoped that “TVJ will not use ‘Eat Bulaga’ pending the appeals in accordance with the law and rules and wait for the finality of the decision.“
Earlier that day, the TVJ group held a press conference regarding their win. During which, they appealed to TAPE to stop using the title in respect of the IPO’s decision.
As of now, the ‘Dabarkads’ are also planning to finally use the title ‘Eat Bulaga’ on television, with Vic Sotto wanting to start using it once the TAPE program stops doing so.
On-air, during the Wednesday episode of ‘Eat Bulaga’ on GMA, host Paolo Contis addressed the matter in a short statement at the start of the program.
“Mahaba pa po ang laban. Ibig sabihin, legally, wala pang final,” Contis opened the show.
(The fight is not yet over. That means legally, there is still no final decision.)
“Pero, ito ang pangako namin: anuman ang mangyari, ang nasimulan naming tulong at saya, tuloy-tuloy lang. Kayo ang dahilan at ito ang pinakamahalaga para sa amin.“
(This is our promise: whatever happens, the entertainment and service we have started will continue. You [the audience] are the reason and the most important to us.)
The opening spiels continued with the lines: “Kaya tuloy ang pasko na pinakamasaya. Dito lang ‘yan sa tahanang pinakamasaya!”
In an indirect jab on the matter, Contis said just before they sang the show’s theme song: “Teka, teka. Hindi ‘yan ang title natin. Ito po ang ‘Eat Bulaga!'”
IPO decision
Yesterday, December 5, the IPO issued a 16-page decision that effectively canceled TAPE’s trademark registration for the name ‘Eat Bulaga’. The said registration, which was first filed in 2011 and approved in 2013, covers Sections 16, 18, 21, and 25.
The petitioners — Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey dr Leon — alleged that TAPE had obtained the trademark for both names “in contravention of the provisions of R.A. No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (IP Code).”
Furthermore, these were “obtained contrary to Section 123.1 (g) of the IP Code…” The said section prohibits the registration of marks that are likely to mislead the public.
The IPO’s decision also read that TAPE did not refute, but corroborated the accounts on how the title was created. According to which, Joey de Leon created the title, while Romeo ‘Romy’ Jalosjos, Sr. merely selected from a pool of possible titles presented to him.
Thereby, the IP Office declared that the TVJ group have “sufficiently established how [they] have coined the ‘Eat Bulaga’ mark and not the Respondent-Registrant [TAPE]…”
Moreover, “that Petitioners are the owners, they have absolute and exclusive right to register ‘Eat Bulaga’ and all variations thereto including the subject mark and the EB mark under its name.”
As mentioned above, TAPE will have 15 days to appeal the decision to the director of Bureau of Legal Affairs.
Meanwhile, there is also a pending application under the name of Joey de Leon. This is for the title ‘Eat Bulaga’ for section 41, which is the Entertainment Services section and that covers titles for television shows.
Other legal matters
Apart from the Intellectual Propery Office case, TVJ also filed copyright infringement and unfair competition cases against TAPE and current broadcaster GMA Network in late June.
According to TVJ’s legal counsel Atty. Buko dela Cruz, the decision on those cases may be released soon by the Marikina Regional Trial Court.
How did this happen and the aftermath…
Issues were rife since March that a backstage rift was brewing in ‘Eat Bulaga,’ as tales from that time shared that there were disagreements between the production group of TVJ and Antonio Tuviera, and the new TAPE management led by the Jalosjos siblings.
After months of back-and-forth discussions, TVJ, their co-hosts, and members of the production team departed TAPE, Inc. on May 31, 2023.
On June 5, TAPE formed a new team to front their show that continued to use the title ‘Eat Bulaga’. The likes of Isko Moreno, Paolo Contis, Betong Sumaya, and Buboy Villar, were some of the artists tapped to become the new hosts.
That week, on June 7, TVJ then announced their transfer to rival network TV5 for their own noontime show. Then on July 1, the program began airing with the tentative title ‘E.A.T.,’ while waiting for the final decision on the trademark, as well as other legalities.
In a peculiar sight on local TV, on July 29, both ‘E.A.T.’ and ‘Eat Bulaga’ celebrated their 44th anniversary.
Trendrod 