MANILA — The Intellectual Party Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) ruled in favor of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon (TVJ) in the “Eat Bulaga” trademark cancellation case they filed against Television and Production Exponents (TAPE) Inc.

The two parties both claimed the trademark for “Eat Bulaga,” which TAPE currently uses for its noontime show on GMA 7.

TVJ, meanwhile, moved to TV5 and co-produced its own noontime show “E.A.T” in July.

In August, TAPE requested and was granted the renewal of the trademark “Eat Bulaga!” and its logo for another 10 years.

However, TVJ filed a petition to cancel the renewal.

In its decision dated December 4, the IPOPHL said TVJ established how they came up with the name “Eat Bulaga.”

“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,” part of the decision read.

(JR AMIGO/AI/MNM)