The Supreme Court has declared unlawful the registration of the trademark “Gloria Maris” in the name of one of its the popular restaurant’s founders who was entrusted to have it registered over three decades ago.

In a decision written by Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh, the SC Third Division ordered the cancellation of the trademark that includes the name “Gloria Maris” and a shark’s fin logo in the name of Pacifico Q. Lim.

Established in 1994, Gloria Maris Shark’s Fin Restaurant Inc. was founded by five business partners that included LIm.

The company entrusted Lim to register the "Gloria Maris" trademark with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) only to find out later that he had it registered in 2005 under his name.

Lim also franchised the restaurant concept to other companies.

The restaurant asked the Bureau of Legal Affairs (BLA) to cancel Lim’s registration of the trademark.

However, the BLA ruled in Lim’s favor, saying he created the trademark in 1993, a year before the company was officially registered. They also noted that the trademark application was published, and the company did not oppose it.

The company appealed this decision, and the Office of the Director General (ODG) sided with Gloria Maris, saying the company had been using the name "Gloria Maris" for over 10 years before Lim registered it.

However, the Court of Appeals reversed this, ruling again in Lim’s favor. This led Gloria Maris to bring the case to the Supreme Court.

The SC Division ruled that Lim registered the trademark in bad faith, pointing out that he knew that the company had been using the name for years, and as a founder, he should have acted in the company’s interest, not his own.

The magistrates also ruled that it was also bad faith on Lim’s part to benefit from the goodwill built by the Gloria Maris brand when the company as a whole built and established the brand.


The Court stated that registering a trademark in bad faith is considered unfair competition and ordered the cancellation of Lim’s registration.