Trump claims Megaworld misleadingly using his name

Real estate mogul Donald J. Trump has taken offense at what he sees as Megaworld Corp.’s misuse of his name for a Makati City development. The Trump Organization filed a complaint with the Trade department’s Bureau of Legal Affairs in June over what it said was Megaworld’s attempt to trademark the name "Trumps", and Friday issued a statement saying the Philippine property firm was "clearly disregarding" the legal process. It said Megaworld, which is developing a condominium project at the corner of de la Costa St. and Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. in Makati City called The Trumps, had put out a billboard using the same typeface used by The Trump Organization for all of his real estate developments and other corporate affiliates. "This is an outrageous attempt to mislead the buyers into thinking that my name and company is affiliated with Megaworld’s project, which is absolutely untrue," Mr. Trump said in the statement. "We will take every course of action available to us at law to stop Megaworld from perpetrating this fraud on the public. It is clear the word ’Trump’ is unmistakably associated with me and with my company throughout the world. When someone says the word ’Trump,’ people certainly do not think of Megaworld." Megaworld denied the charge. "We do not need to ride on the name of Mr. Donald J. Trump as we are a leading property developer in the Philippines while Mr. Trump has no known real estate project in the country. Moreover, our trademark application was filed well ahead of the application of Mr. Trump," the company said in a separate statement. The Trump Organization claimed Megaworld had missed a deadline set by the Bureau of Legal Affairs to file its opposition to the US firm’s application to register the "Trump" mark in the Philippines. The Bases Conversion and Development Authority has said that Mr. Trump and Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts are both interested in a 1.2-hectare lot beside the Bonifacio Global City Center.- BusinessWorld