McDonald's Wins EU 'Mac' Trademark Case
July 05 2016 - 6:00AM
Dow Jones News
BRUSSELS—McDonald's Corp. won a legal case in the European
Union's second highest court, allowing the U.S. fast food chain to
prevent the registration of trademarks for food and beverages with
the prefix "Mac" or "Mc."
McDonald's had won a case in 2013 the European Union
Intellectual Property Office challenging Singapore-based company
Future Enterprises' registry of the name MACCOFFEE for its food and
beverage products.
The EU's General Court on Tuesday upheld that ruling for similar
reasons the Intellectual Property Office had given.
The General Court said the trademark MACCOFEE and McDonald's are
phonetically similar and that the combination of "mac" with the
name of a drink can lead the public to link that trademark to
McDonald's.
It said the products designed by MACCOFFEE, such as ice cream,
muffins, filled sandwiches "aren't simple ingredients serving as
the basis for dishes served in fast-food restaurants, but
correspond to the goods offered… on the menu" of fast-food
chains.
The court therefore ruled that the use of the MACCOFFEE
trademark "takes unfair advantage of the repute of McDonald's trade
marks."
The decision can be appealed to the bloc's highest court, the
European Court of Justice.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 05, 2016 05:45 ET (09:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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