The battle for Europe between Supermac's and fast food giant McDonald's has heated up with the latter stating that the Irish company has benefitted from the use of the US company's brand by making a trademark application for Supermac's to the EU, reports The Irish Independent.
Nearly a year ago the EU Office for Harmonistation in the Internal Market, now known as the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), granted Supermac's a trademark name in Europe. However, the EUIPO ruled that it found similarities with fast-food rival McDonald’s which would cause confusion for the public, saying that Supermac's cannot use it's brand name to sell meat, hamburgers, poultry, fish, chicken nuggets or onion rings.
After launching a new attempt at securing a trademark application with the EUIPO, McDonald's responded with documents in opposition of Supermac's new application, and stated that Supermac's "new" appeal was identical to the one that had been rejected previously.
Supermac's, which was founded in 1978 and known for its curry chips and snack boxes, may have to rethink its expansion plans into Europe as McDonald's told the EUIPO: "Due to McDonald's long and continuous use of the 'Mc' and 'Mac' terms, these terms have become widely and exclusively associated with McDonald's by consumers throughout the European Union."
"Even if the public were able to distinguish between the marks themselves, it is likely that the public would believe that the Supermac's mark is used to identify a new service from McDonald's offerings of 'Mc'/Mac' products," commented McDonald's.
