The Top 10 Biggest Trademark Battles of 2019
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McDonald’s Vs Supermac
One of the more popular headlines this year consisted of Burger King trolling McDonald’s over their loss in this ridiculous case, which take sour number one spot this year.
The dispute came from an Irish restaurant chain, Supermac, which accused McDonald’s of ‘trademark bullying’. Operating with the name Supermac meant that according to McDonald’s, the Irish restaurant was infringing on their trademarked term ‘Mac’. McDonald’s argued that the name Supermac was too close to the name of their famous burger and would confuse consumers, but Supermac wanted to expand out of Ireland, and McDonald’s was not about to let it.
Consequently, the matter was brought before the EU IPO, which ruled in favour of Supermac and therefore restricted McDonald’s use of the ‘Mac’ trademark throughout Europe. This meant that Burger King was then able to freely use the name ‘Big Mac’ in its marketing and branding, purposely to spite McDonald’s, which had regrettably lost one of its most controversial trademark battles in history. The ruling was immediate but could and may still be appealed by the fast food giant.
