NOW, its Manny Pacquiao’s turn to be the accuser.
On Thursday he sued two companies and their executives before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office for using his image in the advertisement of the WOW Magic Sing “Para Sa’yo…Libre ’to” promotional gimmick.
Named respondents in the suit are In-a-Jiffy Enterprises, including its president and chief executive officer Andres Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Del Rosario respectively, and G2K Corp., distributors of the karaoke TV microphone.
Pacquiao said he never authorized In-a-Jiffy and G2K to publicly use his name, image and good will to promote their products. The advertisements, press releases and the website pages were clear violations of his image rights and the provisions of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Code.
Ads and press releases
In his six-page complaint Pacquiao said that sometime in the second week of February, he discovered that the two distributors had placed advertisements and press releases in newspapers about their products.
The press release announced the promotion campaign for the karaoke TV microphone in which a “Para Sa’yo Ang Laban Na ‘to” CD album of Pacquiao is given free for every purchase of the product. The album has the Star Records label and was produced by Loverboy Productions and Pacquiao-Camo Records.
He said that the promo played the title song of the album which uses the catch phrase “Para Sa’yo…Libre Na ’to!”
He added that large fluorescent yellow posters containing the same messages have been placed in display windows and showroom areas of outlets carrying the microphones.
He said “false and unauthorized product endorsement” further made it appear that he was endorsing the product through the publication of press releases in newspapers.
Misrepresentation
He said the unauthorized endorsement is likely to cause confusion about his affiliations because the advertising misrepresented his commercial activities.
Pacquiao said, “The publication of the offending advertisement occurred while I was in the process of finalizing negotiations with Astra Group, Inc. for the endorsement of its Xtreme Magic Sing Videoke Microphones, which is in direct competition with In-A-Jiffy Enterprises and G2K Corporation’s WOW Magic Sing microphones. Because of the offending advertisement, I was unduly fettered in the negotiations with Astra Group, Inc. I almost lost the Astra Group, Inc. business and had to make my terms more attractive to it, as I realized that under the circumstances, I had to suffer the dilution of the value of my endorsement of Astra Group Inc.’s Xtreme Magic Sing Viedeoke Microphones,” he said.
Penalty for these violations is two to five years of imprisonment and a fine ranging from P50,000 to P200,000.
Before filing the case, Pacquiao’s lawyer wrote on February 22 to the two distributors telling them to stop using his image in the advertisements. He asked them to recall the advertising materials and to pay him P20 million as damages.
The distributors replied with a letter promising to provide documentation that they were authorized by Star Records, Pacquiao-Camo Records and Loverboy Productions but Pacquiao claims that no documentation has yet been presented to him.
