McDonald's has been stripped of its "Big Mac" trademark for chicken sandwiches across the EU after a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in favour of Irish chain Supermac's.
The Galway-based firm successfully argued on Wednesday that the American fast-food giant hadn't made genuine use of the trademark for chicken sandwiches, despite it being registered with the EU International Property Office (EUIPO) since 1996. The battle centred around the EU trademark for "Big Mac", which covered not just meat and fish sandwiches but also chicken varieties, along with restaurant services like takeaway and drive-through.
Supermac's launched a legal challenge in 2017 to have McDonald's rights to the name revoked for certain goods and services, claiming the trademark hadn't seen real action within a five-year span. Initially, the EUIPO ruled partially in Supermac's favour but allowed McDonald's to retain the Big Mac name for meat or poultry products and restaurant services.
However, Supermac's didn't back down, taking their fight to the ECJ where they contended that McDonald's had barely used the "Big Mac" mark for chicken sandwiches, relying mainly on marketing for "meat sandwiches". McDonald's and the EUIPO presented examples of adverts and display boards for "Grand Big Mac Chickens".
But the court decided that the evidence didn't adequately show McDonald's had used the disputed trademark extensively for poultry items. The court also examined if McDonald's held rights to the Big Mac as a trademark safeguarding branding for restaurant services, including takeaway food and drive-through facilities.
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The ECJ sided with Supermac's on this issue, revoking McDonald's claim to the phrase for these uses. Both sides were instructed to pay their own legal fees.
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