The South-east Asian drinks company Tanduay Distillers has suffered a blow in its fight with the giant San Miguel Corporation over the use of the Ginebra brandname, after a lower Philippine court ordered it to stop manufacturing and selling its Ginebra Kapitan gin brand indefinitely, according to a report in BusinessWorld.
San Miguel has asked for the injunction because it clashes with its own gin brand Ginebra San Miguel. San Miguel has launched a PHP100-million infringement suit.
Tanduay has denied it is copying San Miguel’s brand name saying that “ginebra” is a Spanish generic term for gin and has countered with its own PHP112m lawsuit.
“Being a generic term, the word ‘ginebra’ cannot be a proper subject of appropriation as a mark. No amount of widespread use of the mark ‘ginebra’ by Ginebra San Miguel will give it any proprietary rights over the term,” Tanduay said in a statement in August.
The lower court’s injunction extends a 20-day temporary restraining order issued by the same lower court, which was due to expire in late October, BusinessWorld said. It will come into effect once San Miguel’s Ginebra files a PHP20m security bond. The order will remain in effect until the court rules on Ginebra’s infringement suit.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData
