McDonald's McHeadache: Loses Malaysian McTrademark Suit

Posted by Abe Sauer on September 8, 2009 05:37 PM

As all travelers know, finding a fake McDonald's in some international backwater is charming. And, really, those trademark breaches are probably doing the brand more good than harm. But dilution in richer markets, where it actually competes, is something Micky D's finds bracing and worrisome.

Case in point: McDonald's has lost an eight-year (!) trademark battle against Malaysian restaurant (serving Indian food) McCurry, aimed at preventing its use of the "Mc" prefix. Sri Devi Nair, McCurry's lawyer, sums up why this ruling is so dangerous to the McDonald's brand: "This is a precedent for everyone to follow."

As Cleo McDowell, from the 1988 film Coming To America, tried to explain:

Me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's. I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches. Mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions. But their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.

To add insult to injury, Minneapolis restaurant Lion's Tap is taking McDonald's to court, accusing it of Hamburgling a tagline the local joint claims it's been using since way back in 2005, "Who's Your Patty?," for the new McDonald's Angus burger.

McDonald's has seen more than its share of trademark lawsuits. (The one it lost to U.K. chain McChina Wok Away’s use of the “Mc” prefix is most similar to the Malaysian case.) Maintaining a brand with global reach is messier than fries with ketchup!

More about: McDonald's, McCurry, Trademark, Food, Legal Issues, FMCG, Naming

Richard Baron says:

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. On our site, http://www.trademarksprotected.com,we help with these trademark issues and any trademark questions.

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