SC decides restaurant trademark issue

The Supreme Court declared unlawful the registration of the Gloria Maris trademark under one of the company’s incorporators.

In a decision written by Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh dated 20 May 2024, the SC’s Third Division ordered the cancellation of the Certificates of Registration over the Gloria Maris trademark, consisting of the words “Gloria Maris” with a shark’s fin enclosed in a plate of an irregular shape (Gloria Maris trademark), in the name of Pacifico Q. Lim.

Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant Inc. was registered in 1994 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with five incorporators including Lim.

Its board of directors entrusted Lim with registering the Gloria Maris trademark with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

But they later discovered that the Gloria Maris trademark was registered with the IPO only in 2005 and in Lim’s name, not Gloria Maris’. He had also franchised the Gloria Maris restaurant concept to several companies.