MCDONALD'S LOSES BIG MAC TRADEMARK AFTER LEGAL BATTLE WITH IRISH FASTFOOD CHAIN

On 15 January the Supermac Irish fast-food chain won a David versus Goliath battle against trademark bullying by a powerful multinational. The Galway-based firm persuaded the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to cancel McDonald’s use of

the “Big Mac” trademark, opening the way for Supermac to expand across Britain and continental Europe.

Pat McDonagh, the company's founder earned the nickname Supermac as a teenager for his outstanding performance in a school Gaelic football match in the late 1960s. He went on to open the first Supermac’s in Ballinasloe, a town in county Galway, in 1978. The company now has 106 outlets across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“This is a victory for all small businesses. It prevents bigger companies from hoarding trademarks with no intention of using them,” said McDonagh. The EUIPO, which is based in Alicante, Spain, ruled that McDonald’s had not proved genuine use of Big Mac, which it trademarked in 1996, as a burger or restaurant name. The trademark had hampered Supermac’s ambition of expanding beyond Ireland because McDonald’s had argued that similarity between Big Mac and Supermac would confuse customers. “We said there’d be no confusion. Big Mac and Supermac are two different things,” said McDonagh, 65.

McDonald’s can appeal against the ruling.