McDonald's has won an EU trademark dispute with a Singaporean rival which wanted to use the name MACCOFFEE.
ADVERTISEMENTEurope’s second highest court has sided with McDonald’s in a trademark dispute with a Singaporean rival.
The Luxembourg-based General Court said the US fast food group has exclusive rights to the use of Mac or Mc in trademark names for food and drink.
The case arose after the Singapore firm Future Enterprises tried to register ‘MACCOFFEE’ as an EU trade mark and the European Union Intellectual Property Office rejected the application.
The judges said it was “highly probable” that was an attempt to ride on McDonald’s coat tails “in order to benefit from its power of attraction, its reputation and its prestige, and exploits, without paying any financial compensation, the marketing effort made by McDonald’s in order to create and maintain its image”.
The patent office had previously granted the hamburger chain exclusivity to the McDonald’s name and 12 other trademarks which included the elements ‘Mc’ or ‘Mac’ as prefixes.
General Court judgment in McDonald's v MACCOFFEE case now available via
EUCourtPress</a> website<a href="https://t.co/S9Oy19N7g9">https://t.co/S9Oy19N7g9</a></p>— Managing IP (ManagingIP) July 5, 2016
