A court upheld that television hosts Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey De Leon own "Eat Bulaga" and "EB" trademarks.

The Marikina City regional trial court ruled in favor of the popular television hosts, weeks after the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines issued a similar decision.

TVJ issued a statement on Facebook on Jan. 5:

"After a rigorous proceeding that lasted five months, TVJ emerged victorious in its copyright infringement and unfair competition case against Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE) and GMA-7.

"In a Decision dated Dec. 22, 2023, received by TVJ’s lawyers from DivinaLaw on Jan. 5, 2024, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 273 of Marikina City granted TVJ’s Complaint against TAPE. As such, the court prohibited TAPE and GMA from using the trademarks “EB” and “Eat Bulaga,” the Eat Bulaga jingle, from its shows.

"With the court’s ruling, TVJ can now use the trademarks and jingles in its shows.

"The RTC found that Joey de Leon created the trademark “Eat Bulaga,” having found that TAPE failed to categorically deny De Leon’s claim that he was the one who formulated it. 

"Said the court: “In view of defendant TAPE's failure to make a categorical and specific denial of the claim of Joey that he coined, formulated, and worded the title Eat Bulaga including the specific explanation how such a portmanteau was created, given the millions of words in the dictionary, the court, therefore, rules that plaintiffs have successfully proved and established, by preponderance of evidence, that Joey and his co-plaintiffs Tito and Vic should be credited with the formulation and creation of the mark Eat Bulaga.”

"Under the 2020 Revised Rules of Procedure for Intellectual Property Rights Cases, any order issued by the court is immediately executory. This means the RTC’s ruling will be enforced even if TAPE or GMA files an appeal."