A top European Union court said Wednesday that McDonald\u2019s has lost its Big Mac trademark in the 27-nation bloc, ruling in favor of Irish fast food rival Supermac\u2019s in a longrunning legal battle.<\/p>\n
The EU General Court said in its judgement that the U.S. fast food giant failed to prove that it was genuinely using the Big Mac name over a five-year period for chicken sandwiches, poultry products or restaurants.<\/p>\n
The Big Mac is a hamburger made of two beef patties, cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles and Big Mac sauce, according to the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
The decision is about more than burger names. It opens the door for Galway-based Supermac\u2019s expansion into other EU countries. The dispute erupted when Supermac\u2019s applied to register its company name in the EU as it drew up its expansion plans. McDonald\u2019s objected, saying consumers would be confused because it already trademarked the Big Mac name.<\/p>\n
Supermac\u2019s filed a 2017 request with the EU\u2019s Intellectual Property Office to revoke McDonald\u2019s Big Mac trademark registration, saying the U.S. company couldn\u2019t prove that it had used the name for certain categories that aren\u2019t specifically related to the burger over five years. That\u2019s the window of time in Europe that a trademark has to be used before it can be taken away.<\/p>\n
A Supermac\u2019s restaurant in Dublin.<\/span>Niall Carson \/ PA Images via Getty Images file<\/span><\/p>\n After the regulator partially approved Supermac\u2019s request, McDonald\u2019s appealed to the EU court.<\/p>\n \u201cMcDonald\u2019s has not proved that the contested mark has been put to genuine use\u201d in connection with chicken sandwiches, food made from poultry products or services associated with operating fast-food, drive-through or take-out restaurants, the court said, according to a press summary of its decision.<\/p>\n Supermac\u2019s portrayed the decision as a David and Goliath-style victory. Managing Director Pat McDonagh accused McDonald\u2019s of \u201ctrademark bullying to stifle competition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a significant ruling that takes a common-sense approach to the use of trademarks by large multi-nationals. It represents a significant victory for small businesses throughout the world,\u201d McDonagh said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Irish company doesn\u2019t sells a sandwich called the Big Mac but does have one called the Mighty Mac with the same ingredients.<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s was unfazed by the ruling, which can be appealed to the European Court of Justice, the bloc\u2019s highest court, but only on points of law.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision by the EU General Court does not affect our right to use the \u2018BIG MAC\u2019 trademark,\u201d the company said in a press statement. \u201cOur iconic Big Mac is loved by customers all across Europe, and we\u2019re excited to continue to proudly serve local communities, as we have done for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n A top European Union court said Wednesday that McDonald\u2019s has lost its Big Mac trademark in the 27-nation bloc, ruling in favor of Irish fast food rival Supermac\u2019s in a longrunning legal battle. The EU General Court said in its judgement that the U.S. fast food giant failed to prove that it was genuinely using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}