He American giant of the quick restoration McDonald’s has lost the right to use the brand of the European Union Big Mac to designate poultry products, according to an opinion published today by the General Court of the EU (TGEU). This court of first instance, based in Luxembourg, considered in its ruling that McDonald’s has not demonstrated its effective use in the European Union (EU) for an uninterrupted period of five years with respect to certain products and services.
This decision is the result of litigation that maintain Supermac’s and McDonald’sa Irish and American fast food chainrespectively, for the brand of the European Union Big Mac.
This trademark was registered in favor of McDonald’s in 1996. In 2017, Supermac’s filed an application for revocation of the aforementioned trademark with respect to certain products and services because it considered that the trademark had not been put to effective use in the Union with respect to those products and services for an uninterrupted period of five years. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), based in Alicante (Spain), partially granted that request.
Background
However, it confirmed the protection granted to McDonald’s by Big Mac brandin particular, with respect to dishes based on meat and poultry products and meat and chicken sandwiches, as well as services provided or related to the operation of restaurants and other catering establishments or facilities for consumption and and with the preparation of takeaway meals.
Through his ruling, the TGUE annuls and partially modifies the EUIPO resolutionthereby further limiting the protection afforded to McDonald’s by the Big Mac trademark.
The General Court considers that McDonald’s has not demonstrated that said trademark has been effectively used as regards the products “chicken sandwiches”, “dishes based on poultry products” and services “provided or related to the operation of restaurants and other catering establishments or facilities for consumption and for purchase from cars (‘drive in’) and with the preparation of take-out meals.
The evidence provided by McDonald’s They do not provide any indication as to the importance of the use of the Big Mac trademark to designate the aforementioned products, in particular with regard to the volume of sales, the duration of the period in which those acts of use were carried out and their frequency. , according to the court.
Therefore, it considers that the evidence examined by the EUIPO does not make it possible to prove the existence of effective use of said trademark to designate the aforementioned products.
