Supermac’s wins Big Mac trademark case with McDonald’s

Europe’s highest court has upheld a complaint by the Irish fast-food company Supermac’s against the global giant McDonald’s in a long-running dispute over the use of the “Big Mac” trademark.

The European Court of Justice today ruled that McDonald’s could not use the trademark when it came to poultry products.

McDonald’s had registered the trademark in the European Union in 1996.

However, in 2017 Supermac’s applied to the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to have the trademark revoked on the basis that McDonald’s had not made genuine use of it in the previous five years.

In 2019, the EUIPO partially ruled in Supermac’s favour, revoking McDonald’s registration of the Big Mac trademark.

As a result, Supermac’s was permitted to use the term Big Mac name on any food items it sold.

However, the EUIPO also said that McDonald’s could still use the trademark for chicken sandwiches and other poultry products, as well as in connection with McDonald’s outlets and drive-ins.

Supermac’s challenged this qualification before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Following the 2019 decision, Supermac’s reportedly claimed that McDonald’s had used the Big Mac trademark to try and block the company’s expansion into the UK and Europe.

The ECJ ruled that McDonald’s would also lose the Big Mac trademark when it comes to poultry products.

The General Court found that McDonald’s had not made genuine use of the trademark, again within a continuous period of five years in the European Union.

The judgement therefore annuls and alters the original finding by the EU’s intellectual property office.

The court found that McDonald’s has not made genuine use of the trademark to sell “chicken sandwiches”, and “foods prepared from poultry products”.

Nor had McDonald’s made genuine use of the Big Mac trademark when opening restaurants and drive-through outlets.

The court found that the evidence submitted by McDonald’s did not indicate the extent of use of the trademark in connection with poultry products, in particular when it came to the volume of sales, the length of the period during which the mark was used and the frequency of use.