Supermac’s has won yet another victory in its long running dispute with the global fast food giant McDonald’s this week over the latter’s ‘Mc’ trademark.
Galway based chain Supermac’s has been in a years long dispute with the McDonald’s over universal ‘Mac’ and ‘Mc’ trademarks, which Supermac’s says the US giant is using to stifle competition.
The EU Intellectual Property Office has now ruled that no longer has the exclusive rights to use the ‘Mc’ prefix in multiple food areas.
McDonald’s is allowed to retain the use of the ‘Mc’ trademark for chicken nuggets, edible sandwiches, meat sandwiches, pork sandwiches, fish sandwiches and chicken sandwiches, but has had its automatic application revoked for many other food products.
Instead the trademark will be subject to a test to prove its usage in each instance of a product.
This claim was brought by Supermac’s which argued that McDonald’s had not shown proper usage of the prefix in relation to all of the foodstuffs covered by their trademark.
The two fast food chains have been locked in a long running dispute, with Pat McDonagh’s plans to expand into the UK and European markets stymied on multiple occasions by legal suits from McDonald’s which centred around trademark issues.
