FORMER Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who is one third of the TVJ (Tito, Vic, and Joey) movie industry icon, on Thursday expressed confidence they will win their legal tussle with Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE) over the use of the “Eat Bulaga” slogan in their noontime show.
“Very confident kami (We are very confident that we will win the case). With God ‘s help, the truth will come out,” Sotto said in an interview with reporters following the first hearing of their complaint against TAPE at the Marikina City regional trial court (RTC) Branch 273.
Sotto, along with his brother Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon and creative head Jenny Ferre, have filed a complaint for “copyright Infringement and unfair competition under R.A. No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, with application for issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction” against TAPE, which is the producer of the noontime show Eat Bulaga, and GMA Network.
“Ang tanong dito kasi, ang sinasabi namin sa korte: ‘Sino may-ari ng pangalan Eat Bulaga? (The question that we are asking the court is: ‘Who is the real owner of the Eat Bulaga name),” Sotto said, adding: “What we are saying is that they are deceiving the people by saying that they are the legitimate Eat Bulaga.”
He said they are not asking TAPE to stop their noontime show but want the production outfit to change their program’s name.
The Marikina court heard the part of the TVJ’s complaint, which was for the application for the issuance of a preliminary injunction. In filing the case, the trio sought an injunction to stop TAPE from replaying Eat Bulaga episodes, segments and audio-visual recordings done before May 31 this year and from using the title Eat Bulaga, which TAPE had opposed.
TAPE had said that since it has the trademark registration of the name and logo of Eat Bulaga, it has the right to use the name and logo. It also said it has trademark registrations of the show’s segments. It also said it owns the copyright of the show’s audiovisual recordings because it spent for all the expenses of production to be able to make the episodes.
It said TVJ and Ferre do not have the registration of the name and logo of Eat Bulaga with the Bureau of Trademark or copyright with the IPOPHL.
TVJ and Ferre also alleged unfair competition because of the continued usage of the name Eat Bulaga, allegedly giving the misleading impression to the public that Tito, Vic and Joey are still connected to TAPE and it is the same show with them as hosts. But TAPE lawyer Maggie Abraham-Garduque said that “there is no unfair competition.”
Tito Sotto, De Leon and Ferre attended the hearing. De Leon took the witness stand and was subjected to direct, cross, redirect and recross examinations.
TVJ left GMA 7’s Eat Bulaga and TAPE and transferred to TV5 to host the show “E.A.T” starting July 1. “Eat Bulaga” resumed programming on June 5 with new hosts.
TAPE and TVJ are in a legal dispute over who owns the Eat Bulaga trademark. TAPE earlier said it is the prior registrant of the Eat Bulaga trademark with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL).
De Leon told reporters: “Basta kami nagsabi lang ng totoo. Kayo na ang bahala (We are telling the truth. It’s up to the public to decide which of us is telling the truth).”
Lawyer Enrique Dela Cruz, council of De Leon, said it was De Leon who conceptualized the name Eat Bulaga, while the Sotto brothers contributed to everything else, including the segments of the TV show.
The court set the next hearing on July 31. — Christian Oineza
