12 October 2024
McDonald’s loses trademark fight
Malaysia’s highest court has ended an eight-year battle between McDonald’s and a Malaysian curry restaurant over the use of the prefix ‘Mc’.Malaysia’s Federal Court agreed with Appeals Court judgment which allowed ‘McCurry’ to use the ‘Mc’ prefix.
“We feel great that this eight-year legal battle is finally over and we can now go ahead with whatever we plan to do such as opening new branches,” McCurry owner P Suppiah said after the court decision, according to Reuters.
The fast-food giant received support from Malaysia’s High Court over the matter but has since lost cases in the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
McDonald’s said they would abide by the court’s decision.
Wal-Mart vs. Amazon in FMCG and food in new online battle
Online grocery shopping is growing in Australia it is set to be the focus of a new global war betwee...
Governments will save money investing in weight loss, say UK researchers
Offering year-long weight loss classes could be the key to keeping thousands of people out of hospit...
Millions of Bangladeshi will soon have access to Fonterra milk
Anchor milk will soon be available to millions of people in Bangladesh with Fonterra signing a new d...
Australian expat named as one of 6 top-earning Walmart executives
The top six executives of one of America’s biggest companies Walmart earned compensation combined o...
Consuming too much sugar whilst pregnant could cause allergies in child
Consuming too much sugar whilst pregnant could increase the risk of allergies and allergic asthma a ...
Low price wine at risk as global production sinks
Global wine production has sunk to its lowest level in 60 years according to the latest figures rele...
New Zealand Food Awards 2017 winners announced
The 2017 New Zealand Food Award winners have been announced with a sheep milk product taking out the...
SUEZ and Yume join forces to combat commercial food waste
SUEZ and Yume have announced a partnership in the fight against commercial food waste, which sees s...
The recent McDonald’s v. McCurry ruling is not surprising. Just by the three main DuPont factors alone, appearance, sound and meaning, these two marks are arguably not confusingly similar. Add to that the difference in menus, and the difference in trade dress, and you have a pretty strong case for McCurry, which the panel seemingly accepted. The letters “Mc” cannot be totally, exclusively owned by one entity worldwide. And it’s not as if people are going to mix up McCurry with McDonalds. Now, if McCurry used the golden arches, had a clown and similar characters associated with the restaurant, that would be problematic. Those elements were not present in this case.