BEEP trademark already belongs to another firm

THE INQUIRER recently reported that AF Payments Inc. will be using the “BEEP Card” as its eCard platform for the payment of LRT/MRT fares (Metro, 8/15/15).

We would like to advise AF Payments that BEEP is a trade name/trademark of passenger transport and electronic payment cards for commercial and/or financial use, and it is duly registered with our company. This can be verified through our IPO certificates of registration.

More importantly, our company has been using the BEEP trade name/trademark to distinguish brand-new jeeps or “bagong jeeps,” or just “BEEPs” from the old ones. Our company, in collaboration with various transport groups, has launched a Jeepney Upgrade and Modernization Program where we hope to replace 10,000 old jeepneys, more or less, with BEEPs. These BEEPs are totally brand new with euro-compliant, electric-powered engines. They will be equipped with an automated fare collection system using electronic cards as the mode of fare payment. Naturally, the name of the card follows the name of the vehicle, thus, BEEP cards.

To complement the 10,000 jeepneys, we have joined efforts with various bus companies in propagating the use of the BEEP cards. With this market, we anticipate more than 5 million transactions a day involving 2.5 million “unique passengers.”

Given the millions of commuters who will eventually be using our BEEP card, we ask AF Payments to refrain from using the BEEP trade name/trademark as its electronic card payment scheme as this will definitely confuse the riding public. At this stage, AF Payments’ and our cards and systems are not interconnected. Commuters might have the mistaken belief that our BEEP cards can be used in the AF Payments’ system, and its cards in ours. Furthermore, our cards can be used in purchasing products from accredited stores. We are concerned that passengers might insist on using AF Payments’ cards in making purchases, only to be denied access.

To avoid any confusion and in accordance with our trade name/trademark registration, we hope that AF Payments will voluntarily refrain from further using the BEEP trade name/trademark in its electronic card payment system.

—VIGOR D. MENDOZA II, chair, 1-Transport Equipment Aggregator and Management Inc.