The Philippines spirits producer, Tanduay Distillers Inc., has stood by its use of the term “ginebra” in its brands in spite of the complaint lodged by its larger competitor, Ginebra San Miguel (GSM), concerning Tanduay’s use of the term.
Tanduay claimed that “ginebra” is a Spanish generic term for gin and it plans to continue producing and selling its Ginebra Kapitan brand under that name, along with other similar products, including Ginebra Agila, Ginebra Heneral and Ginebra Torrero, in spite of the suit filed by Ginebra San Miguel.
“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.
Interestingly, GSM, part of the San Miguel food and drinks group, only announced in April of this year that it was changing its name from Tondena Distillers to Ginebra San Miguel.
