Surprisingly, I have been smitten by this brouhaha over Tito, Vic and Joey versus Eat Bulaga, mainly because it’s quite fascinating to dissect brand ownership.
And between the legalese of intellectual property rights versus a very deep sentimental claim, it is really a great divide which can consume and engulf us in an endless debate of who really made whom.
Allow me to proffer this rational but very unpopular (I would be the first to admit) notion — if TVJ is truly the genesis and the heart and soul of Eat Bulaga, then it means they are bigger than the brand itself, right?
So when they abandoned the show, why did they want to take the brand name with them? Doesn’t this imply that they cannot move on without the Eat Bulaga name? If this is the case, then does it not prove that it was Eat Bulaga that made TVJ, and not the other way around?
Think about this — TVJ broke away from the show and its production. They left in a rather dramatic and unpleasant manner, even if the owners of the production had no intention of letting them go.
In short, they abandoned Eat Bulaga. So why do they want to cling to the brand name? If they were the geniuses behind the brand, and they were indeed its very soul, then they should have no problem creating another show, right?
So why would they want to claim the brand as their own when, in the last four decades, they did not even bother to legally acquire ownership rights?
In hindsight, maybe the trio really took for granted that EB was their de facto creation, and that this would not be disputed. (It was revealed that TVJ actually tried to register the EB trademark as their own in February this year).
But what I cannot really fathom is the move to leave Eat Bulaga but furiously lay claim to the brand name.
To me, it translates to the notion that TVJ wants to maintain the EB brand because it was really EB that made them.
To reiterate, if the trio truly believes they made EB, then it should follow that in their abandonment of the show, they should have no problem procreating another one, perhaps even a better one.
They left and broke away, and knowing how talented, gifted and creative they are, they have what it takes to create a new brand.
Unless of course they will really accept the fact that they cannot do without Eat Bulaga.
Which means it is really Eat Bulaga that made them.
Fascinating debate, right?
Mark my word.