Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon (TVJ). Image: Facebook/TVJ
The camp of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon (TVJ) said they are “preparing the appropriate legal action” after TAPE Inc.—which the former maintained is not the owner of the “Eat Bulaga” YouTube channel—regained access and control over the page.
“The owner of the YouTube channel is the owner of the email used to register it. It is not TAPE,” TVJ lawyer Enrique Dela Cruz Jr. said in a statement sent to INQUIRER.net on Saturday, Sept. 9.
“The content of that YouTube account are past episodes of ‘Eat Bulaga.’ The copyright of the show and its episodes belong to TVJ,” he added. “We are preparing the appropriate legal action. This may constitute a cyber crime if they hacked into the account or made misrepresentations to YouTube.”
TAPE had lost access to the noontime show’s YouTube account after its former employees, who departed from the production company in May alongside original mainstays TVJ, reportedly did not turn over the page’s email and password.
Earlier today, TAPE lawyer Maggie Abraham-Garduque confirmed that they had retrieved the YouTube page after coordinating with the platform “to be able to update its email and contact person.”
Abraham-Garduque further noted that they were granted access “since as per records of YouTube, TAPE is the owner thereof because the receipts for creating it is under the name of TAPE and even the bank account linked to it is under TAPE.” /ra