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Sunday, November 11, 2012

Iglesia ni Cristo Logo: Religious or Business Trademark?

The  INC is a Corporation disguising as a "religion". This news appeared in many Business related news!



12 Filipino Firms Seek International Trademark Protection Via Madrid

Philippines — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) received 12 international applications on Tuesday, July 25, marking the first day of entry into force of the Madrid Protocol in the Philippines bringing a total of of 82 international registrations by Filipino trademark owners.

The Madrid Protocol designated a total of 82 Contracting Parties and consequently extending trademark protection of the involved brands to 160 countries worldwide.

Ten of the applicants originate from the buzzing City of Cebu, namely: Profood International Corporation (Philippine Brand Dried Mangoes and Profood Cebu Dried Mangoes), International Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Efficascent Oil, Omega Painkiller Liniment, Gastripac, Bioderm, and Dr. S. Wong’s Sulfur Soap), Magicmelt Foods, Inc. (Magic Melt), Arden Siarot (Arden), and Murillo’s Export International, Inc. (Murillo).

The two applicants from Manila are international fashion designer Robert Tomas (Tomas) and religious group Iglesia Ni Cristo (Iglesia Ni Cristo seal).
Among the designated contracting parties are Australia, Bahrain, BENELUX, China, European Union, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Mongolia, Norway, Oman, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.

To facilitate payments for Madrid Protocol transactions, the law office of Bengzon Negre Untalan Intellectual Property Attorneys (BNU), led by Attorney Ferdinand Negre, the leading advocate of Madrid Protocol in the country, opened a Swiss current account with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The first day of effectivity of Madrid Protocol coincided with the Franchise Asia Philippines 2012 event, and IPOPHL Director General Ricardo R. Blancaflor, formally announced the start of Madrid Protocol to the Filipino entrepreneurs to the delight of franchisors and franchisees.

Accession to the Madrid Protocol has been endorsed by numerous business associations and chambers and made possible under the watch of IPOPHL Director General Ricardo R. Blancaflor who has been named one of the 50 Most Influential People in the world in the field of intellectual property. He championed Madrid Protocol accession to benefit Filipino trademark holders going global.

The IPOPHL would like to thank the various business associations led by the Association of Filipino Franchisers, Foreign Chamber Council of the Philippines, Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Philippine Franchise Association, and other business groups for their endorsement of the Madrid Protocol. The IPOPHL would also like to thank the following government entities including the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, Office of the President, and Office of the Solicitor General for the speedy facilitation and realization of this international trademark filing system.

3 comments:

  1. Hello! This is Lin Regino from Father McGivney Office – Philippines and CBCP Media Office. I would like to ask for your help in promoting awareness of Venerable Fr. Michael J. McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus order wide.

    Fr. McGivney’s canonization is underway. Dr. Andrea Ambrosi, postulator of the Cause for the Canonization of Fr. McGivney, travelled from Rome to the Philippines this year with the hope that a miracle would be found here.

    We would be very grateful if you help us encourage Filipinos to pray for the intercession of Fr. McGivney.

    For more details, please like our FaceBook page: www.facebook.com/fathermcgivneyph or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frmcgivneyph. You may also visit www.fathermcgivney.ph.

    God bless us all. Vivat Jesus!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, you really need to read on your Intellectual Property (IP) Law here.

    Not all registered IPs (example: copyright, trademark, patent) are used in business and for profit. Yes, there are IP that are used in business like company's logo , a brand name or a song/jingle. These may be simply registered to 1) legally establish the registrar's ownership of that IP and 2) to protect the owner of that IP's rights from infringement/copying, and the like. This is all subject to the IP Office's approval if a IP application already covers an already existing trademark, copyright etc.

    Request of use of an IP can be sought from the registrant/owner, then the owner may or may not grant that request, which can be for free or for a fee.

    As to the INC's move to register its corporate seal is I assume, to prevent unauthorized use of its seal for example, purposes NOT related to its affairs or (even) to malign people using that seal. Of course, if you have a logo/brand you are associating/using yourself (say, your blog's logo), it is but natural that you don't want that to be used by other people in means you don't personally approve or adversely affect your reputation. INC is doing it according to the law, and in the example I, you can freely do so, too.

    Lastly, to conclude/introduce this article, that the INC is a business based on this article alone, is unwarranted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The course of Action taken by the INC clearly manifest that they were FAKE, a true church founded by Christ is not subject to any man-made laws, particular its identity and legal existence. God never taught that his church shall bear a logo like of what the INC did.

    ReplyDelete

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