July 03, 2011
09:27:00 PM
A TRADEMARK tiff between two fastfood chains that serve meals on banana leaves has been settled out of court with the accused copycat agreeing to change its logo, complainant Binalot Fiesta Foods, Inc. said in a statement yesterday.
Rafael L. Chu, the proprietor behind Nid’s Express Binalot, reportedly agreed to forgo the use of the “Binalot” trademark in negotiations held after it lost the case filed with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines back in 2007 and was ordered to pay damages.
Mr. Chu then appealed the decision to the state agency’s director-general.
The cases were then referred to mediation,
Binalot Fiesta said.
Mr. Chu could not be immediately reached for comment.
“In exchange for withdrawing the cases, Mr. Chu recognized and agreed to observe [our] exclusive right to the trademark Binalot and to revise the trademarks it applied for registration,” Binalot Fiesta said in its statement.
The agreement has been submitted to the state agency to formalize the deal.
Binalot Fiesta noted that the settlement was accomplished via the recently established alternative dispute resolution center and hailed it
as a “strategic move in terms of improving services and efficiently managing the process and resources.” — EJD