THE Marikina regional trial court has found Television and Production Exponents, (TAPE) Inc. liable for unfair competition and copyright infringement and issued an order “permanently enjoining” it and GMA Network from using the trademarks “Eat Bulaga” and “EB,” as well as its logos and jingle, in their shows.
The court also barred them from airing any recorded “Eat Bulaga” show prior to May 31, 2023, and directed the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to cancel TAPE’s registration of “Eat Bulaga,” “EB,” and their logos.
Moreover, it ordered TAPE to pay hosts Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon and their co-defendant Jeny Ferre P2 million in temperate damages, as well as P500,000 in exemplary damages and P500,000 in attorney’s fees, as posted on abogado.com
The ruling stemmed from a petition that the three hosts, collectively known as TVJ, filed with Ferre after they left the show “Eat Bulaga” that TAPE produces for GMA.
They asked the court to stop TAPE from using “Eat Bulaga” as they maintained that they own the intellectual property creations relative to the show, given that they were independent talent-hosts when the noontime show was conceptualized.
In granting their petition, Marikina RTC Branch 273 under Judge Romeo Tagra said the hosts were able to present evidence to show that they should be credited with the formulation and creation of “Eat Bulaga.” These include narration of how De Leon coined the term.
The court also said De Leon should be considered the creator the Eat Bulaga logo since the concept and design emanated from him.
It rejected TAPE’s claim of ownership over the mark and logos based on the argument that the three hosts were its employees when these were created.
The rules of copyright ownership do not apply to a trademark like “Eat Bulaga,” it said.
Given this, the Marikina RTC said TAPE was liable for unfair competition.
It said it produced a show with the same name, format, and time slot as the original, and cited instances where people mistook the new GMA show as the one hosted by TVJ.
This was “proof of actual confusing similarity or likelihood of confusion,” it said.
It also said intent to deceive or defraud is presumed, and TAPE is obliged to present evidence to overcome this. But it was unable to do so.
“Indeed, if there was no intent on the part of defendant TAPE to palm off plaintiff Joey’s coined mark Eat Bulaga as its own, it is uncanny why it insisted on retaining the use of the mark Eat Bulaga after Joey and co-plaintiffs Tito and Vice have already bolted away,” it said.
Moreover, it said TAPE was proven to have replayed old episodes of Eat Bulaga hosted by TVJ even after the hosts had departed the show.
To the court, this “was done with no other reason but to ride on, and appropriate, the goodwill that plaintiffs Tito, Vic, and Joey have earned and established for the mark Eat Bulaga after four decades of being associated with it.”
If TAPE wanted to make its noontime show distinctive, it should have used a different mark instead of “Eat Bulaga,” which only causes confusion, it said.
It also said it is inconsequential even if TAPE had been able to register the marks “Eat Bulaga” and “EB” with the IPOPHL.
Based on the evidence, it believes this registration was “obtained through fraud and made in bad faith.”
It also noted that TAPE was not yet incorporated when “Eat Bulaga” started airing in 1979, so it could not claim to be privy to its creation.
The court likewise pointed out that TAPE’s registration of “Eat Bulaga” did not include entertainment services.
It said this shows TAPE’s “implied recognition” that the three hosts have preferential and superior right over “Eat Bulaga” as its creators, which was why it “surreptitiously registered” the mark only for goods and merchandise.
“Otherwise, it boggled the mind of the court why TAPE did not go for the jugular by registering EAT Bulaga directly as entertainment show,” it said.
The court also ruled that TAPE committed copyright infringement for replaying recordings of selected segments of “Eat Bulaga” episodes without the consents of the hosts and Ferre.
