San Miguel Scores Victory in U.S. Trademark Case

September 02, 2015

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rendered a decision on 27 August 2015 denying the Appeal filed by Ramar International Corp. (“Ramar”) on the March 2013 Judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in favor of San Miguel Corporation, San Miguel Pure Foods Company Inc. and Magnolia Inc. (collectively, “San Miguel”), regarding the use by San Miguel of the “Magnolia” brand for butter, margarine and cheese products sold by it in the United States.

Additionally, the Court of Appeals reversed the injunction issued by the District Court that prevented San Miguel from using the “Magnolia” brand for new Magnolia food products in the U.S., as Ramar failed to prove that it suffered any irreparable injury by San Miguel's use of the Magnolia mark on its products in the U.S.

In rendering the decision, the Court of Appeals recognized that San Miguel used the “Magnolia” brand on its butter, margarine and cheese products to invoke the goodwill that San Miguel built in the Philippines, not the goodwill created by Ramar in the U.S. The Court further acknowledged that Ramar's president himself admitted on record that his company originally adopted the Magnolia trademark to “leverage the existing strength of San Miguel's Magnolia brand” to promote its sales of Filipino-style ice cream in the U.S.

As a result of the decision and the lifting of the injunction, not only may San Miguel continue selling its Magnolia butter, margarine and cheese products in the U.S., it may consider introducing new food products and food services under the “Magnolia” brand in the U.S.