Totoo nga na sina Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, at Joey de Leon ang tunay na may-ari ng titulo at trademark ng noontime show na “Eat Bulaga” at “EB.” Ito ay nang kanselahin ng Intellectual Property Office (IPO) ang trademark registration ng Television and Production Exponents (TAPE), Inc. para sa “Eat Bulaga” at “EB.”
Sa desisyon ni Atty. Josephine Alon, Adjudication Officer ng Bureau of Legal Affairs ng IPO, lumalabas na hindi napatunayan ng TAPE kung paano nakuha ang markang “Eat Bulaga.” Tinanggap rin ng IPO ang paliwanag at testimonya ng mga petitioners na sina Tito, Vic & Joey o TVJ hinggil sa pagbuo ng “Eat Bulaga.”
“Registrant-Registrant, for their part, did not refute nor contradict this statement on how Petitioners coined the term ‘EAT BULAGA’ as title for a noontime show in 1979.
“In fact, Respondent-Registrant even corroborated with Petitioners explanation by averring ‘After their engagement, we thought of the name of the noontime show. I submitted several names to Romy including Eat Bulaga which was suggested by Joey,’” ang bahagi pa ng resolution.
Sa mga hindi pa aware, ang “Romy” na tinutukoy sa resolusyon ay si Romy Jalosjos, may-ari ng TAPE na siyang producer ng longest-running noontime show sa bansa na napapanood ngayon sa GMA 7
“Romy chose the name ‘Eat Bulaga’ amongst the name in the list. Further, consistent to being true owner of the EAT BULAGA mark, Petitioners applied for registration of the mark with the Intellectual Property of the Philippines in February 2023 for Classes 16, 18, 21, 25 and 41.
“The old Trademark Law provided that ‘the owner from the goods, business, or services of others shall have the right to register the same…’
“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 the EAT BULAGA mark and all variations thereto including Sublect mark ‘Eat Bulaga’ and EB mark, under its name,” ang nakasaad pa sa dokumento mula sa IPO.