Fastfood chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. lost a long-running trademark case against Jolliville Holdings Corp., a publicly listed real estate management company controlled by night club operator and ‘entertainment king’ Jolly Ting.
Jolliville said in a statement Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines director-general Josephine Santiago reversed the 2014 decision of the agency’s bureau of legal affairs and granted Jolliville’s appeal for the registration of its corporate name.
“The decision of the BLA director [in September 2014] is incorrect and the appeal is meritorious. The appellant’s [Jolliville] mark is not confusingly similar to appellee’s [Jollibee] marks,” IPOPHL said in a decision issued on June 8, 2017.
“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,” IPOPHL said.
Jollibee filed a notice of opposition in January 2013 against the application of Jolliville Holdings Corp. for the registration of its corporate name and logo “Jolliville.” IPOPHL bureau of legal affairs director Nathaniel Arevalo ruled in favor of Jollibee in September 2014, forcing Jollivile to file an appeal.
Jolliville said in its appeal that the use of “Jolli” was a tribute to its founder Jolly Ting and that Jollibee could not claim exclusive and immediate association of ‘Jolli’ or ‘Jolly’ as there were other registered corporations and trademarks using the same name.
Jolliville also argued that its name was not confusingly similar to Jollibee and its other registered marks. Jolliville also presented Securities and Exchange Commission certificates of registration showing that Jolly Ting started using the “Jolli’ prefix in the mid-1980s.
“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 in its decision.
Jolliville said its name was a trademark formed in combination of Jolly Ting’s first name and ‘ville’, resulting in a coined word suggestive of the kind of business he was into, which was real estate.
“While appellee [Jollibee] was making it big in the food service business, so was Mr. Jolly L. Ting in the night entertainment business. As the owner of a string of night entertainment establishments such as Pegasus, Discovery, Mega Heartbeat, Lexus, he earned the moniker king of night entertainment,” IPOPHL said.
Ting later diversified into real estate property management and development.
IPOPHL also said Jollibee did not present any proof that its interests over its registered marks had been damaged or were likely to be damaged by the registration of Jolliville.
“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,” IPOPHL said.
Ting started in the night club business, then branched out into real estate venture with Jolliville Realty and Development Co. Inc. in September 1986. The SEC approved the change in the corporate name of JRDCI to Jolliville Holdings Corp. in April 1999.
Jolliville and its subsidiaries are now engaged in leasing, management services, property development, land banking, local waterworks system, business process outsourcing and power generation.