BIZ BUZZ: TVJ wins again
The indefatigable Tito, Vic and Joey (TVJ) have scored another legal victory after the Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed their ownership of the “Eat Bulaga!” trademark and intellectual property.
In a ruling issued late last year, the CA denied the plea of Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE) and GMA Network to review the decision earlier handed down by the Regional Trial Court, which granted the complaint for unfair competition and copyright infringement filed by Vicente “Tito” Castelo Sotto III, Marvic “Vic” Castelo Sotto and Jose Ma. “Joey” Ramos De Leon, as well as TVJ Productions Inc. head of creatives and vice president Jeny Perea Ferre.
The CA underscored in their decision that “the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors as well as artists and gifted citizens—like respondents Tito, Vic, Joey and Jeny—over their intellectual property and creations must be protected and secured.”
It may be recalled that TVJ had filed a complaint for unfair competition and copyright infringement after TAPE and GMA continued to use the “Eat Bulaga,” “EB” as well as “Eat Bulaga” and “EB” trademarks, including logos, jingles or songs and recorded episodes, segments and portions of the program even after the trio had bitterly parted ways with TAPE.
The Sotto brothers and De Leon, represented by DivinaLaw, welcome the CA decision, promulgated in time for Christmas 2024, believing that it proved yet again what they have known all along, that “Eat Bulaga” is theirs and theirs alone.
“We owe everything to God and to those who have supported us all these years,” former Senate President Tito Sotto tells Biz Buzz.
