July 31, 2016
The Bureau of Legal Affairs recently cancelled a trademark registration, which it deemed to have been obtained maliciously and in bad faith.
The case stemmed from a Petition for Cancellation filed by Japanese Company Toyoda Gosei (“Petitioner”). In the Petition, Petitioner alleged that the registered mark “TG & Design” owned by local Philippine company JRD Dynamics Co. (“Respondent”) is identical and confusingly similar to its trade name and its trademarks “TOYODA GOSEI” and “TG”. The Bureau agreed with Petitioner and found that even though there are differences in the design of the marks, the fact that the registered mark includes the word “TOYODA GOSEI” clearly proves that Respondent copied Petitioner’s trademark deliberately, with malice and in bad faith. This fact is even more apparent especially because there was no explanation from Respondent as to how it came up with the words “TOYODA GOSEI” in its mark.