G.R. No. 101897 . March 5, 1993.
LYCEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES, INC., petitioner, vs. COURT OF APPEALS, LYCEUM OF APARRI, LYCEUM OF CABAGAN, LYCEUM OF CAMALANIUGAN, INC., LYCEUM OF LALLO, INC., LYCEUM OF TUAO, INC., BUHI LYCEUM, CENTRAL LYCEUM OF CATANDUANES, LYCEUM OF SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES, LYCEUM OF EASTERN MINDANAO, INC. and WESTERN PANGASINAN LYCEUM, INC., respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Lyceum of the Philippines, Inc. has been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under that name since September 21, 1950. On February 24, 1984, it filed a proceeding before the SEC to compel the private respondents, which are also educational institutions, to delete the word “Lyceum” from their corporate names and to permanently enjoin them from using it. Petitioner based its claim on a prior SEC case (SEC-Case No. 1241) against Lyceum of Baguio, Inc., where the SEC ordered Lyceum of Baguio to change its name, a decision affirmed by the Supreme Court. The SEC hearing officer in the instant case ruled in favor of the petitioner. However, on appeal, the SEC En Banc reversed the decision, holding that the appending of geographic names to “Lyceum” sufficiently distinguished the schools and that the word had not acquired a secondary meaning identifying it exclusively with the petitioner. The Court of Appeals affirmed the SEC En Banc’s decision.

ISSUE

Whether the corporate names of the respondent educational institutions, which all include the word “Lyceum,” are identical or deceptively or confusingly similar to the corporate name of petitioner Lyceum of the Philippines, Inc., thereby violating Section 18 of the Corporation Code, and whether the word “Lyceum” has acquired a secondary meaning such that its use is exclusively appropriable by the petitioner.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. The Court held that the corporate names of the private respondents are not identical or deceptively or confusingly similar to that of the petitioner. The appending of geographic names (e.g., “of Aparri,” “of Cabagan”) to the word “Lyceum” effectively precludes confusion and deception among the general public. The Court also ruled that the petitioner failed to prove that the word “Lyceum” had acquired a secondary meaning. The doctrine of secondary meaning requires that a word, though originally generic, be used so long and so exclusively by one producer that it comes to mean that producer’s product in the mind of the relevant public. The Court found that petitioner’s use of “Lyceum” was not exclusive, as it was shared with other institutions like the Western Pangasinan Lyceum (registered on October 27, 1950, shortly after the petitioner) and the other respondent schools. The number of respondents itself strongly suggested a lack of exclusivity. Therefore, the petitioner has no legally enforceable exclusive right to the word “Lyceum.” In determining similarity, corporate names must be evaluated in their entirety, and when so evaluated, the names in question are not confusingly or deceptively similar.