McDonald’s loses case against Irish rival

An Irish fast food company has won a case against McDonald’s to prevent it trademarking the terms “Big Mac” and “Mc” in some instances in Europe.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office ruled McDonald’s had not proven genuine use of “Big Mac” as a burger or a restaurant name.

Galway-based Supermac’s said it opened the door to register its brand in Europe as a trademark.

This is not the first time McDonald’s has gone to the courts over prefixes.

• McDonald’s wins EU ‘Mac’ ruling

In 2013, a European court upheld a ruling that a Singaporean company – MacCoffee – had unfairly benefited from the branding of the US burger giant due to its use of the ‘Mc’ prefix.

However, Tuesday’s judgement rebukes that.

Supermac’s had previously attempted to expand operations into UK and Europe.

However this move was brought to a halt after McDonald’s won a battle over the similarity between the name Supermac’s and Big Mac.

‘End of the McBully’

Pat McDonagh, Supermac’s managing director told Irish broadcaster RTÉ it had been a “David versus Goliath scenario”

“But just because McDonald’s has deep pockets and we are relatively small in context, doesn’t mean we weren’t going to fight our corner,” he added.

“We’ve been saying for years that they (McDonald’s) have been using trademark bullying.

“This is the end of the McBully.”