TH Coffee Services Philippines Corp. v. Company Registration and Monitoring Department

December 20, 2018SEC EN BANC CASE NO. 05-17-425Right to Use Corporate NameTH COFFEE SERVICES PHILIPPINES CORPORATION, appellant, vs. COMPANY REGISTRATION AND MONITORING DEPARTMENT, appellee.DECISIONFor the consideration of the En Banc is the Appeal Memorandum filed on 22 May 2017 by TH COFFEE SERVICES PHILIPPINES CORPORATION (TH COFFEE), which seeks to reverse the Letter-Order dated 12 April 2017 of the Commission's COMPANY REGISTRATION AND MONITORING DEPARTMENT (CRMD), where the CRMD denied TH COFFEE's reservation of the corporate name "TIM HORTONS PHILIPPINES, INC.," for being identical or confusingly similar to TIM HORTONS, INC., a name which has since been revoked. RELEVANT FACTSTH COFFEE is a domestic corporation, registered on 28 June 2016 1 and established for the purpose of procurement, importing, exporting, distributing, and wholesaling [of] coffee and other coffee-related products. 2 On 28 July 2016, TH COFFEE entered into a Master Franchise and Development Agreement with Tim Hortons International, S.A. (THISA), a multinational quick service restaurant franchisor registered in Canada. 3 TH COFFEE thus became the sole franchisee of the international trademark "TIM HORTONS" in the...