Jollibee loses to Jolliville in IPOPHL trademark case

Jollibee Foods Corp. has lost a long-running trademark case against publicly listed property company Jolliville Holdings Corp.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said that Director-General Josephine Santiago reversed the 2014 decision of the agency's Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) and granted Jolliville's appeal to have its corporate name registered.

"The decision of the BLA director [in September 2014] is incorrect and the appeal is meritorious. The appellant's mark is not confusingly similar to appellee's marks," IPOPHL said.

"In the absence of the likelihood of confusion between the Jolliville and the appellee's Jollibee registered trademarks, there is no ground to prohibit the registration of Jolliville in the name of the appellant," the IPOPHIL added.

Jollibee Foods Senior Media Manager Renel Guerrero said the fastfood chain has yet to confirm the decision, as it has not yet received a copy from IPOPHL.

In January 2013, Jollibee filed a notice of opposition against the application of Jolliville to register its corporate name and logo "Jolliville."

IPOPHL BLA Director Nathaniel Arevalo ruled in favor of Jollibee in September 2014, compelling Jollivile to file for an appeal.

The property company argued that the use of "Jolli" was a tribute to its founder Jolly L. Ting and that Jollibee cannot claim exclusive and immediate association of 'Jolli' or 'Jolly' as there are several other registered corporations and trademarks that use the same name.

"The appellant has proven its ownership and continuous use of Jolliville since 1986.  It has secured trademark registration for Jolliville as early as 2004," IPOPHL said.

"The registration of Jolliville in favor of the appellant is not contrary to the provisions of the IP Code but is consistent to the very essence of granting trademark registration," it added. — VDS, GMA News