American fast-food chain McDonald’s was recently taken to court by Irish fast food chain Supermac’s over the use of the ‘BIG MAC’ trademark. There have been ongoing intellectual property disputes between the two companies since Supermac’s challenged the trademark for the first time back in 2017.
McDonald’s originally registered the ‘BIG MAC’ trademark in 1996 to be used for meat and chicken dishes. However, Supermac’s filing before the pandemic came to a head in the European Intellectual Property Office (‘EUIPO’) in 2019 when McDonald’s registration was revoked, which permitted Supermac’s to use the ‘BIG MAC’ name. Despite this partial win for Supermac’s, McDonald’s was still able to use the name for meat and chicken sandwiches, which led to Supermac’s appealing the decision.
Following this appeal, McDonald’s has now lost the EU trademark in relation to its chicken sandwiches entirely. This comes after the European Court of Justice (‘EJC’) decided that the American company was not successful in proving a ‘genuine use’ of the ‘BIG MAC’ trademark on all of its products. An EU trademark can be revoked entirely if it has not been put to “genuine use” within a five-year time frame.
This was decided after Supermac’s put forward to the ECJ that McDonald’s had insufficiently used its trademark for their chicken sandwiches, and that McDonald’s evidence of genuine use only proved such for their meat sandwiches. The Judge ruled that “"McDonald's has not proved genuine use within a continuous period of five years in the European Union in connection with certain goods and services." Both parties were also ordered to bear their own costs in relation to the hearings.
The managing director of Supermac’s, Pat McDonagh, who was a school teacher by profession, expressed his joy in the win by stating the ECJ’s decision was a “significant victory for small businesses.” He continued to talk about the initial lawsuit against the American franchise ““We knew when we took on this battle that it was a David versus Goliath scenario. The original objective of our application to cancel was to shine a light on the use of trademark bullying by this multinational to stifle competition.”
A spokesperson for McDonald’s commented on the ruling and said, “Our iconic Big Mac is loved by customers all across Europe, and we’re excited to continue to proudly serve local communities, as we have done for decades.”
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