The EU Intellectual Property Office, based in Alicante, has been in charge of revoking the rights over the Big Mac brand , registered by the multinational McDonald’s, which has announced that it will appeal.
This follows a resolution of the Euipo, dated January 11, which justifies this decision to consider that the US hamburger chain has not presented sufficient evidence to demonstrate the „extent of use“ of the banner throughout the EU and not only in some countries.
In response to questions from Efe, a spokesperson for McDonald’s has advanced that they will lodge an appeal and has assured that, despite the resolution, the firm „owns and can demand the rights of the ‚Big Mac‘ brand in Europe and, therefore, also in Spain“.
For his part, the founder of Supermac’s, Pat McDonagh , has congratulated himself in a statement for this victory of „David against Goliath“ and has accused the multinational of trying to harass his trademark policy with other competitors like them. He has given as an example that McDonald’s registered the „SnackBox“ brand, which is „one of the most popular products“ of the Irish chain, and has emphasized that at the moment it does not even market any reference under this commercial name.
The claim was presented in April 2017 by the Irish fast food chain Supermac’s, although the conflict between the two companies dates back to 2014. Then, the Irish company requested the registration of the brand „Supermac“ with the aim of expanding with this brand. by the United Kingdom and Europe , but McDonald’s filed objections.
The Euipo then gave the reason to the American multinational by the similarities between both brands, which could generate „confusion in a part of the public“. Subsequently, in 2017, Supermac’s requested the revocation of the protection on the commercial denomination „Big Mac“, alleging that McDonald’s „registers names that it simply stores to use against its future competitors“, as explained in a statement.
The community body has now admitted this request, considering insufficient evidence presented by the US multinational in the framework of this process.
McDonald’s contributed sales data for „Big Mac“ between 2011 and 2016 in Germany, France and the United Kingdom; brochures and posters in these three markets with advertising of this product; screenshots of 18 of its websites in Europe; and a screenshot of the entry that Wikipedia dedicates to his best-known hamburger.
„After examining this material, we believe that the evidence is insufficient to establish the effective use of the brand,“ reads the Euipo document, based in Alicante, which states that the failure lies in demonstrating conclusively that the label is used in an important part of the community territory.
