Brand names
A campaign gets its name, its tagline and its hashtag long before it gets an airdate. In the Philippines, two sets of rules decide whether you can keep them. The Intellectual Property Code decides who owns a name or a line as a mark, and the ASC Manual decides which lines an ad may use at all. Both are worth checking before the launch, not after the first complaint.
Can a campaign name or tagline be a trademark?
Yes, if it does what a mark is for. The IP Code defines a mark as “any visible sign capable of distinguishing the goods (trademark) or services (service mark) of an enterprise”. A product name, a campaign name or a tagline can qualify, as long as it tells buyers whose product it is rather than describing the product.
Ownership comes from filing: “The rights in a mark shall be acquired through registration made validly in accordance with the provisions of this law.” A registered business name, or a line that has already run in ads, does not make the line a registered mark.
What stops a name from being registered?
Section 123 of the IP Code lists the grounds. Three come up most often with campaign names.
| Ground in Section 123 | What it means for a campaign name |
| “Is identical with a registered mark belonging to a different proprietor or a mark with an earlier filing or priority date” | Someone else’s mark for the same or closely related goods blocks yours, and so does one that “nearly resembles” it |
| “Consists exclusively of signs or of indications that may serve in trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value” | A line that only describes the product, its quality or its purpose can’t be owned by one brand |
| “Consists of a name, portrait or signature identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent” | A name built on a real person, such as a celebrity, needs that person’s written consent |
A descriptive line is not shut out for good. It can still be registered once it “has become distinctive” through use, and the IPO may accept five years of “substantially exclusive and continuous use” in the Philippines as evidence of that. A new campaign doesn’t have five years, so a new line has to be distinctive from the start.
Does a different product category keep you safe?
Not by itself. A registered owner can stop identical or similar signs on “goods or services which are identical or similar” where confusion is likely, and “In case of the use of an identical sign for identical goods or services, a likelihood of confusion shall be presumed.” The trademark classes don’t settle the question either: goods “may not be considered as being similar or dissimilar to each other on the ground that” they sit in different classes.
Famous marks reach further still. A mark that is well known in the Philippines and registered here is protected even on unrelated goods, where the use “would indicate a connection” with its owner and the owner’s interests are likely to be damaged.
What does the ASC add?
A rule that reaches lines nobody registered. Under the ASC’s pre-emptive rights rule, rights to an ad with “materially the same execution are established by the date of first publication, installation, posting or upload, or airing anywhere in the world and not by approval of the storyboard, script or layout.” It runs across categories: “if it was established that Brand A has pre-emptive rights on a particular slogan, Brand B may not use the same slogan in its advertisement for any of its products.”
Those rights lapse with time off air: two years after the last run for non-competing products, five years for competing ones. The lapse “does not apply to copyrights, IPO-registered trademarks”. Plagiarism is a separate ban with no category limit. An ad found “substantially or materially imitating distinguishing features of other advertisements in any part of the world” gets a cease and desist order, “effective immediately”.
Government lines are off limits too: “The use of government entity’s campaign slogan in advertisements is prohibited unless approved by the relevant government authority.” The Manual’s example is the Department of Tourism’s “It’s More Fun in The Philippines”.
What happens if the name is already taken?
Using it in ads can be infringement before a single sale. Section 155 covers a “colorable imitation” of a registered mark used in the “advertising of any goods or services”, or applied to “labels, signs, prints, packages, wrappers, receptacles or advertisements”, “regardless of whether there is actual sale”.
Names nobody registered are protected too. Unfair competition protects a business’s goodwill “whether or not a registered mark is employed”, and trade names are protected “even prior to or without registration”. Section 170 sets two to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of P50,000 to P200,000 for infringement and unfair competition, on top of civil and administrative sanctions. A launch that has to change its name also pays for the reprints and the re-edits.
How do you check a name before the launch?
| Check | Where | Why |
| The trademark register | IPOPHL: “Marks registered at the Office may be inspected free of charge” | Identical and similar marks, for the same and related goods |
| Published applications | IPOPHL publishes applications before registration | An earlier filing date beats yours, even before it is registered |
| Past ads and posts | Ad archives, social pages and search, here and abroad | The ASC dates rights from first use “anywhere in the world” |
| Business and trade names | DTI and SEC name records | Trade names are protected without registration |
| People and government lines | The script and the talent list | Written consent for a living person’s name; approval for a government slogan |
When should you file?
Before the name goes public. A mark “with an earlier filing or priority date” blocks a later one, and once the name is in a teaser or a press kit, anyone can file first. The application lists the “names of the goods or services for which the registration is sought, grouped according to the classes of the Nice Classification”, so file for what the brand will actually sell. After publication, anyone who believes the registration would damage them has 30 days to oppose it.
Then keep it alive. A declaration of actual use is due “within three (3) years from the filing date of the application”. A registration lasts ten years, with another declaration due within one year from the fifth anniversary of registration. Decide which names are worth that upkeep: a product name that stays on the pack usually is.
Does a registered tagline prove the claim in it?
No. The ASC Manual says the IPO certificate “shall not be used to support any product claim”, because “Ownership of the mark is different from truthfulness of the claim”. A brand name is no proof either: “A suggestive brand name cannot be used as a product claim or attribute in advertisements unless substantiated”. A line that claims to be the best still needs the evidence in our guide to ad claims rules.
What about names made with AI?
They get the same checks. A name or line suggested by an AI tool can still match a registered mark or an earlier campaign, and nothing in the output tells you whether it does. Copyright in AI output is a separate question, covered in our guide to who owns AI-generated content. Other brands’ marks inside AI frames are covered in other brands in an AI ad.
Put the check in the timeline
Run the register search between the shortlist and the client presentation. A name that fails the check costs one meeting. A name that fails after the launch costs the media, the print and the pack.
General information from the Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293) and the ASC Manual. It is not legal advice; ask a trademark lawyer or agent to run the search and file the application.
Who should run the check?
The team naming the campaign, before anyone falls for the name, with a trademark lawyer or agent for the search and the filing. PUNX is an AI creative agency in Makati: 50-plus people, founded 2023, producing for P&G, San Miguel, Petron, GCash and Sun Life. Whoever writes your next campaign, ask where the clearance check sits in their timeline.
FAQ
Can you trademark a tagline in the Philippines?
Yes, if it can distinguish your goods or services from others’. The IP Code defines a mark as any visible sign capable of doing that, and rights come from registration with IPOPHL. A line that only describes the product’s kind, quality or purpose can’t be registered unless it has become distinctive through use.
Does registering a business name protect a campaign name?
No. Under the IP Code, rights in a mark are acquired through registration under that law. Trade names have some protection without registration, but exclusive rights to a name for your goods or services come from a trademark registration.
Can two brands use the same slogan for different products?
Under the ASC Manual, not once the first brand has established pre-emptive rights: the rule applies to all product categories. Those rights lapse two years after the last run for non-competing products and five years for competing ones, but the lapse does not apply to IPO-registered trademarks.
How long does a trademark registration last in the Philippines?
Ten years. The owner must file a declaration of actual use within three years from the application’s filing date, and again within one year from the fifth anniversary of registration, or the mark is removed from the register.
Related
AI creative agency — what PUNX makes, and for whom
Ad claims rules — what the ASC asks you to prove
Other brands in an AI ad — logos, look-alikes and comparisons
Naming a campaign?
Send us the shortlist and the launch date. We will put the clearance check on the timeline from the first draft.
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