Ginebra San Miguel bats for ‘competition without imitation’

Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI), the hard liquor unit of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp., has clarified that it welcomes competition but stressed that it should be without resorting to imitation.

GSMI legal counsel Gilbert Reyes said while the company adheres to a free market environment, consumers should also be treated fairly by giving them a choice of original, not copied, products.

"We are not just protecting individual business interests here but primarily the interest of the gin market," he said.

GSMI recently secured a temporary restraining order from the Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court against Tanduay Distillers Inc. (TDI), the liquor arm of the Lucio Tan group.

The case stemmed from the manufacture and sale of TDI’s new product, Ginebra Kapitan, which GSMI said is an imitation of its flagship gin product Ginebra San Miguel.

GSMI also argued that it has the right to exclusively use and market the Ginebra brand having been in the market since 1834. The company has even changed its name from La Tondena Distillers to GSMI early this year to reflect the strong brand identity of its main product.

TDI, however, lamented the TRO, arguing that GSMI’s legal move is "a clear victory of monopoly over free market competition."

The Tan-owned company, whose anchor product Tanduay dominates the local market for rum, insisted that its Ginebra Kapitan product is distinctly different from the GSMI label and that the word ‘ginebra’ is a generic term meaning ‘gin’ in Spanish, thus cannot be used as an exclusive trademark.