SC rules in favor of Gloria Maris in trademark row

MANILA, Philippines — After 15 years, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant Inc. over an intellectual property dispute with one of its incorporators.

The ruling stemmed from a case dating back to 2009, when Gloria Maris sought to cancel the registration of its trademark which had been filed by Pacifico Lim under his own name.

According to the SC, Gloria Maris registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1994 with five incorporators, including Lim, and trusted the latter with registering its trademark with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

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However, the Gloria Maris board discovered that the trademark was only registered in 2005, under Lim’s name, and was even franchised to other companies.

Gloria Maris then filed a case with the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) of the IPO to cancel the registration, but the BLA ruled in Lim’s favor.

It then appealed the decision to the Office of the Director General (ODG), which reversed the BLA’s decision. However, the BLA’s ruling was then reinstated by the Court of Appeals which prompted Gloria Maris to elevate the case to the high court.

Fifteen years later, in a decision promulgated on May 20, 2024, the Supreme Court ordered the cancellation of the trademark registrations held by Lim, granting the petition for review filed by Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant.

According to the Court, Lim had acted in bad faith by registering the “Gloria Maris” trademark under his name, despite knowing that the restaurant had been using the name for over a decade.

“It was also bad faith on Lim’s part to benefit from the goodwill built by the Gloria Maris brand when the company as a whole built and established the brand,” the high court said.

“The Court held that a trademark registered in bad faith may be canceled for being unfair competition under the Intellectual Property Code. Thus, it ordered the cancellation of Lim’s registration over the trademark,” it added.