Would you confuse a Miss Asia USA Pageant for a Miss USA pageant?
That was the central question for a New York State court to decide when Donald Trump's Miss Universe LLP, the owners and operators of the Miss USA Pageant, challenged a Filipino woman's use of the Miss Asia USA Pageant name.
The five-year legal battle finally came to an end last December when the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York State dismissed the Miss Universe organization's trademark infringement lawsuit.
"When my lawyers told me I won the case, I almost fainted," said Virgelia Villegas, the owner and producer of the Miss Asia USA pageant. "I just can't believe it. Again, you know, at that time, I was preparing just to probably yield and probably have a plan B in what to do if it's not going to be what I expected it to happen."
The court granted judgment to Villegas on the differences of the Miss USA and Miss Asia USA pageants.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Howell wrote: "Miss USA pageant does not have this kind of cultural or ethnic element. Nor does it claim to have any concrete plans to produce or license a cultural pageant like Miss Asia USA. The differences that exist between the two pageants should not be understated. The Miss Asia USA pageant is quantifiably different from Miss USA and Miss America in that it highlights a particular component of its contestants' identities."
Howell added the lawyers for Miss Universe did not show any evidence of how the Miss Asia USA pageant would damage the reputation of the Miss USA pageant.
Villegas has been operating and producing the Miss Asia USA pageant since 2003, when she bought the rights of the pageant name from Dindo Reyes. Reyes had started the Miss Asia USA pageant in 1988.
In 2004, lawyers for Miss Universe issued a cease-and-desist letter to Villegas for using the "Miss" and "USA" in her pageant title.
Every year the Miss Universe organization spends hundreds of thousands of dollars suing businesses that use the term "Miss" and "USA" in their names or titles of events.
Villegas said they've succeeded in "squashing" various titles in more than 200 cases.
Villegas did not adhere to the cease-and-desist letter, and continued producing her shows. It wasn't until the lawyers from the Miss Universe contacted her sponsors that things began to get serious.
"We are so different from the Miss USA pageant," said Villegas. "One, we start our pageant with the parade of nations, where each girl in costume highlights their country of origin. Unlike Miss USA, where each girl has to compete in a local or city pageant before moving on to compete in a state pageant, the Miss Asia USA pageant has girls who have never competed in a pageant before."
Though the lawsuit took five years to win, and Villegas had to mortgage her home in order to pay for her Washington DC-based legal team.
But she doesn't mind. To her, it was all about keeping the name Miss Asia USA.
"I feel a sense of responsibility with this name," she explained. "It represents our community, the Asian community."
Villegas said she now plans to expand her Miss Asia USA pageant on a national scope.
Her dream is for Miss Asia USA to become the premier pageant for Asian-Americans in the United States.
Joseph Pimentel is a writer for Asian Journal.
Photo from missasiausa.org.
Read more stories from Asian Journal »
Leave a comment