Showbiz Roundup: TVJ wins ‘Eat Bulaga’ trademark battle, SB19 owns group name, Heart Evangelista kicked out

(From left) Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, SB19, Heart Evangelista. Images: FILE PHOTOS

Christmas is upon us, and for comedy trio Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon—collectively known as TVJ—and SB19, they will welcome the holiday season with early presents as they finally gained ownership of “Eat Bulaga’s” name and group name, respectively. After dedicating their blood, sweat and tears to their legal battles, they finally emerged victorious.

Heart Evangelista getting kicked out of an event from the recent Fashion Week also became the center of attraction for showbiz watchers, as it seemed she’s finally taking control of her own narrative after her controversial fall-out with her former glam team.

Meanwhile, Carla Abellana looked back at her six-month marriage with ex-husband Tom Rodriguez while showing her support for wives going through abusive relationships.

In other news, the longstanding heartbreak caused by the split of longtime partners Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla continues to send fans into a tailspin, as Andrea Brillantes and Gillian Vicencio were accused of being the cause of their split.

Start the month of December on a cheerful note as we look back at INQUIRER.net’s hottest entertainment stories from Dec. 1 to 7.

TVJ is rightful owner of ‘Eat Bulaga’

Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon (TVJ). Image: Facebook/TVJ

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPhl) has dismissed the trademark registration of Television and Production Exponents (TAPE) Inc. for the names “Eat Bulaga” and “EB.”

The IPOPhl Bureau of Legal Affairs’ ruling dated Dec. 4, favors TVJ as the rightful owners of the “Eat Bulaga” trademark, given their explanation of its origin. This effectively cancels the trademark registration of TAPE.

“The petitioners proved that it is the originator and owner of the contested EAT BULAGA mark. Petitioners’ explanation or story on how initially the idea of the EAT BULAGA mark came about did seem believable and credible,” a portion of the IPOPhl ruling, penned by Atty. Josephine Alon, BLA Adjudication Officer, stated.

Atty. Enrique dela Cruz, counsel for petitioners TVJ and former “Eat Bulaga” executive Jenny Ferre, said the IPOPhl ruling is an “early Christmas blessing.”

“The decision underscores a very important concept in trademark law. Registration of a mark does not vest ownership over the mark. It is ownership that gives the right to register it. Hindi unahan na mag rehistro ang laban sa trademark. Kung sino ang tunay na may ari at may likha, sya ang may karapatan na magpa rehistro,” dela Cruz said.

“TVJ is ‘Eat Bulaga’ and ‘Eat Bulaga’ is TVJ,” he added.

It is the contention of TVJ that they are the rightful owners of the trademark, considering that it is de Leon who thought of the “Eat Bulaga” name, as well as its logo and its iterations; while the theme song was composed by a team led by Vic Sotto.

On May 31 this year, TVJ left “Eat Bulaga” amid production clashes with their home studio, TAPE, which still had a contract with GMA Network. Together with their co-hosts, they moved to TV5, which offered them their original noontime slot. The group has since been broadcasting under its new program, “E.A.T.”

Meanwhile, TAPE revamped its “Eat Bulaga” show on GMA, acquiring a new set of hosts but retaining its popular format, prompting TVJ to file a copyright and unfair competition case last June against TAPE and GMA before the Marikina regional trial court. This petition remains pending up to now.

In past interviews, Tito Sotto pointed out that while Production Specialists might have funded the show, it was TVJ and Tony Tuviera who conceptualized the show and carried it through difficult times, saying the use of “Eat Bulaga’s” name, logo, music, segments, and the airing of replay episodes of the original shows by the rebranded program on GMA didn’t secure their consent.

“After all these [44 years], hindi naman sila nakikialam sa amin… it was Tony Tuviera who was coordinating with us the whole time. It was Tony Tuviera na kausap namin. Lahat ng production, lahat ng ginagawa namin du’n, kami-kami ‘yon,” Tito told CNN Philippines in a past interview.

In August, IPOPhl renewed TAPE’s trademark registration for “Eat Bulaga” for another 10 years, but TVJ lawyers claimed that this is part of the government agency’s responsibilities.

SB19 gains ownership of group name

SB19 members (from left) Ken, Justin, Pablo, Josh, Stell. Image: X/@SB19Official

SB19 is excited to “reconnect” with fans, who call themselves A’TIN, after settling the issue on ownership rights with their former agency over their group name.

Their label, 1Z Entertainment, confirmed in an official statement last Dec. 5 that SB19 came to an “amicable agreement” with their former agency ShowBT Philippines Corp.

“We formally announce that we have come to an amicable agreement with ShowBT Philippines Corp. through a fair and equitable resolution,” it wrote, while thanking fans for their “patience and unwavering support.”

“Thank you for your patience and unwavering support toward SB19 and 1Z Entertainment,” 1Z added. “Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken, and Justin eagerly anticipate reconnecting with all of you in their upcoming endeavors. We can’t wait to see you all again soon.”

The official social media pages of SB19 also shared 1Z’s announcement.

Further details are yet to be announced as of this writing.

Last November, fans noticed that SB19’s Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken and Justin dropped their group name from the bios of their personal accounts, leading to speculations about their dispute with ShowBT.

Previous reports noted that the group’s trademark was owned by ShowBT, as seen on IPOPhl’s website. However, the label has yet to make a statement regarding their trademark dispute up to this day.

During the debacle, SB19 canceled the Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai legs of their “Pagtatag” Asia tour, while their Japan stop was postponed to a later date.

Heart Evangelista kicked out of Fashion Week event

Heart Evangelista. Image: Instagram/@patdomingo via @iamhearte

Sitting down with MEGA Editor-in-Chief Peewee Reyes-Isidro, Heart Evangelista revealed that she was kicked out of a Fashion Week show—and said it was very stressful at the time.

“There’s no need to try to kick somebody out of a show because that happened to me in the last Fashion Week. I would talk to certain PRs to say no; somebody was calling and saying I’m not able because another person’s going to attend,” recalled Evangelista.

She shared a certain encounter in which she was told somebody would represent her but got dropped along the way, so she now has three agents to help her oversee the whole process. “So there’s like a lot of those things that happen. It starts to become political,” she said.

Evangelista said she does understand that things could get complicated, so sometimes people just have to be way ahead of the situation, which pushed her to change for the better too.

“Now, they know who the point person is, but I get that everybody gets too excited, so it gets messy at some point, but those things can happen. You really just have to plan things out properly so there’s like a harmonious, smooth way of doing everything,” she said.

“I’m also glad that it kind of pushed me to change things in a way to the next step, 10 steps ahead. I fixed a lot of corporate stuff and legal stuff. I got all my cards set perfectly, and now it’s okay; it’s going to be smoother,” she continued.

She reiterated that people might try to break her down, but she will never be affected given how strong her struggles have made her.

“I’m glad I really went through the fire. I’m a tough cookie. Take my video, put it out, whatever you want to dissect, and how you want to present me to the world. Black propaganda, you could do whatever; set my house on fire, but you will not break me again,” she added.

Carla Abellana vs Tom Rodriguez’s ‘red flags’

Carla Abellana and Tom Rodriguez. Image: Instagram/@teampatdy

Carla Abellana is relieved that she can now laugh off her three-month marriage to her ex-husband Tom Rodriguez, saying she ignored his red flags at the time.

Interviewed by Karen Davila last Nov. 30, Abellana confessed that she was in shock at how fast her marriage to Rodriguez eventually ended since they had dated for six years before saying “I do.”

“Daig ko pa si Kim Kardashian. Just kidding,” she quipped. “Even ako, I’m in shock. At that time, I said, this has got to be one of the fastest or the shortest [marriages]. I’d say like three months, that’s very fast, so at least ngayon, I can laugh about it.”

She noted that having a failed marriage is “not a joke,” and that she eventually “forgave” him for all the “red flags, disrespect and lying” that happened in their relationship. “It’s not a good thing that it was very short. I never imagined I’d end up getting married and have such a short marriage.”

“Eventually, I knew I’d be able to get to the point where or when I’ll forgive him. Of course, I’ll never forget but something in me knows I’ll eventually forgive [Tom],” she added. “Of course, I know more about red flags now than I did. I did see red flags [before] but at that time, hindi pa po ako masyadong aware.”

Abellana didn’t elaborate on the red flags that caused the breakdown of her marriage to Rodriguez, only saying that it had something to do with his “behavior [and] personality.”

“We’re expected to forgive and just give chances, and the relationship is worth fighting for. So I just brushed off the red flags. But it’s not healthy,” she said. “It’s not healthy to see these red flags and just ignore [them]. I thought there would be change, but there’s no change.”

In hopes of helping fellow women going through difficult marriages, Abellana reminded them to “respect” themselves and be firm when “enough is enough.”

“I guess my only advice is to make sure you don’t lose yourself and you respect yourself. You don’t forget yourself. It always comes to a point when enough is enough, so hopefully, they know kung hanggang kailan nila kaya,” she said, noting she didn’t establish her boundaries back then.

“It’s more of a realization [for me at the time]. The red flags, it’s more of forgetting and not minding them. It’s a form of disrespecting yourself because you may have boundaries, pero nagko-cross ‘yung boundaries. Of course, it was a choice to forgive the person and all that to stay in the relationship, pero I never listened to myself,” she added.

Andrea Brillantes targeted after KathNiel split

Andrea Brillantes, Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernrado. Image: Instagram/@blythe, @bernardokath

What seemed to be Andrea Brillantes’ expression of love for Olivia Rodrigo became a venue for Kathniel fans to seemingly blame the actress for the breakup of Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla.

Brillantes was suspected to be the third party behind the split of the “KathNiel” love team after showbiz writer Ogie Diaz linked the “Senior High” star to the singer-actor on his “Ogie Diaz Showbiz Update” vlog last Nov. 8. He then noted that he merely cited the talk swirling in showbiz circles, hoping it was not true.

She, however, made headlines after Bernardo unfollowed her on Instagram earlier this month—and vice versa.

On her X (formerly Twitter) account on Nov. 30 at around 4:20 p.m., Brillantes expressed her love for Rodrigo while sharing a screenshot of her top songs on Spotify Wrapped which is an annual year-end roundup of the music platform.

The screenshot contained Rodrigo’s songs, “bad idea right?”, “all-american b**ch,” “lacy,” “vampire,” and “get him back,” which are part of her 2023 album “Guts.”

“When I said that I love Olivia and her newest album, this is what I meant. I didn’t expect or plan this btw haha,” Brillantes wrote.

Brillantes’ post, however, became the avenue for many netizens to blame her for causing Bernardo and Padilla’s breakup.

Others pointed out that Brillantes should be “left alone” as Bernardo and Padilla’s split is a matter that should be kept among themselves, with some pointing that the bashers’ remarks “reek of misogyny.”

Despite the accusations, Bernardo and Padilla didn’t cite any third party in their breakup, only that they had “drifted apart.” Brillantes, meanwhile, has yet to address the controversy as of this writing.

Gillian Vicencio also dragged into KathNiel breakup

Kathryn Bernardo & Daniel Padilla, Gillian Vicencio

Aside from Brillantes, Gillian Vicencio was also subjected to criticism after she was dragged into Bernardo and Padilla’s split.

Vicencio’s name emerged after internet personality and businessman Xian Gaza went on Facebook Live to talk about KathNiel’s breakup.

In spite of the rumors, netizens defended her and noted that Bernardo is still following the former, and they appear to be on good terms while promoting their movie “A Very Good Girl.”

Others speculated that Brillantes’ camp was trying to divert attention from the “Kadenang Ginto” star by floating the name of another female celebrity.

Vincencio denied the allegations on social media, days later while emphasizing her “respect” for the ex-couple.

“Wag niyo po ako idamay dito, hindi po totoo. Bigyan naman po natin sila ng respeto,” Vicencio said on X last Dec. 1.