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McDonald's Loses 'Big Mac' Trademark in European Union
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- chuckadams 2y agoTerrible headline. They lost a single infringement case they brought, not the trademark.
- sokoloff 2y agoIn this case, it's the HN headline that's terrible (overstated to the point of being wrong), not the AP News article headline, which is "Big Mac battle: McDonald’s loses European Union trademark fight with Irish rival Supermac’s"
- senkora 2y ago> The EU General Court’s ruling said in its judgement Wednesday, June 5, 2024, that the U.S. fast food giant failed to prove that it was genuinely using the Big Mac name over a five-year period for chicken sandwiches, poultry products or restaurants. I'm confused. Does this mean that McDonald's still has the trademark for hamburgers, and that this lawsuit was specifically about striking down the trademark in other, less important categories?
- a_paddy 2y agoYes, McDonald's still has the trademark on hamburgers. They have lost it for the "Chicken Big Mac" and in relation to opening/operating restaurants. I think the original disagreement was due to McDonald's blocking the Supermac's brands expanding outside of Ireland, their reasoning being that customers would be confused between the Big Mac and Supermac's. Supermac's defense was that McDonald's hadn't exercised their Big Mac trademark with respect to operating a restaurant for over 5 years, hence now they've lost it, opening the door for Supermac's to expand into the rest of the EU.
- karaterobot 2y agoIs Supermac's specifically a chicken chain, without beef burgers? This article is so confusing if you don't already know all the information in it already.
- tivert 2y agoThe article says this: > The Irish company doesn’t sell a sandwich called the Big Mac but does have one called the Mighty Mac with the same ingredients. So it sounds like they do sell beef burgers. Unless the EU is a bizarre place, like the land of Rand McNally, where chicken and beef are considered the same ingredient.
- memsom 2y agoNo - they sell burgers. I have actually had one a long time ago. It was comparable to McD's offering.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- vel0city 2y agoThe Mighty Mac is a burger almost exactly like a Big Mac. Two beef patties with a middle bun level. Compare: https://supermacs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Supermacs-Mighty-Mac-5.png https://supermacs.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Supermacs-Mi... https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/mcdonalds/Header_BigMac_832x472:product-header-desktop?wid=830&hei=456&dpr=off https://s7d1.scene7.com/is/image/mcdonalds/Header_BigMac_832...
- account42 2y agoPlently of restaurants have double burgers like that. It's not even close to a Big Mac.
- vel0city 2y agoI'm not implying there's anything special about having a double patty burger with a middle bun as something entirely special to only McDonald's. But having a burger like that and calling it "$something-meaning-grand/large Mac" is only a McDonald's thing, since it (at least was) a trademarked term. And really? You don't see very heavy resemblance between these two burgers? The only major difference I'm seeing is McDonad's have pickles and a slightly different sauce.
- tivert 2y ago> The EU General Court said in its judgment that the U.S. fast food giant failed to prove that it was genuinely using the Big Mac label over a five-year period for chicken sandwiches, poultry products or restaurants. > ... > Supermac’s filed a 2017 request with the EU’s Intellectual Property Office to revoke McDonald’s Big Mac trademark registration, saying the U.S. company couldn’t prove that it had used the name for certain categories that aren’t specifically related to the burger over five years. That’s the window of time in Europe that a trademark has to be used before it can be taken away. I am I reading this right? They're revoking the Big Mac (hamburger) trademark because it wasn't also used for chicken sandwiches? That seems kind of nonsensical to me. I assume McDonald's sells Big Mac (hamburgers) in Europe.
- kayodelycaon 2y agoThey claimed their trademark included more than just hamburgers. "connection with chicken sandwiches, food made from poultry products or services associated with operating fast-food, drive-through or take-out restaurants" They can't use a trademark on a food product and then not allow someone to make a POS system with Big Mac in the name.
- qwytw 2y agoIf I understand correctly it seems like this only applies to chicken/poultry sandwiches since it's supposedly a different product category.
- jandrese 2y agoI think it's saying that McDonalds has lost the "Big Mac" trademark in relation to chicken sandwiches. Presumably they still retain it for beef sandwiches.
- memsom 2y agoIf the trademark is weakened, this opens the door to having it removed. It should not be trademarkable. It is like trademarking "X" (where X is some common work or term) then going after anyone that uses the word "X" in their name or marketing, despite it being a regularly used word or phrase in that specific region or culture.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- amelius 2y agoCan I now sell a laptop named "Big Mac"?
- jandrese 2y agoWell, McDonalds would never have had a case against you because trademarks are domain specific. However, Apple Computer may have a beef with you.
- randomdata 2y agoApple Computer is of no concern. Apple will ensure they are shut down long before they ever get around to you. Of course, Apple won't take a "Big Mac" computer lightly either.
- d1sxeyes 2y agoI think the ruling says that they’re allowed to have a beef with you, but not a poultry.
- kayodelycaon 2y agoNo. Apple's trademark would probably apply and they actually use Mac to refer to laptops.
- amelius 2y agoIsn't Apple's trademark for Macintosh? What if I called my laptop Macaroni, and referred to it as Mac?
- kayodelycaon 2y agohttps://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/appletmlist.html https://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/...
- amelius 2y ago
- oleg_antonyan 2y ago- one Big Mac and Mac Book, please
- throwawaycities 2y agoFor clarity McDonald’s still has the trademark protection for “meat sandwiches.” This part of the trademark was also challenged along with the other goods/services, but McDonald's provided satisfactory evidence of use of the mark. The full judgment: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=BEF2817B82A777A4E0878E796CB9BE77?text=&docid=286812&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=10093637 https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsession...
- crazygringo 2y agoSummary: Ireland fast-food restaurant "Supermac" is expanding into the EU and has a burger called the "Mighty Mac" [1] which is basically a clone of a Big Mac. You can see their whole menu here [2]. Obviously, McDonald's thinks "Supermac" and "Mighty Mac" infringe/dilute its own "Big Mac" trademark. I don't know why this article seems to be presenting this as a fight over chicken sandwiches. From their menu, Supermac is clearly a burger chain that also has chicken sandwiches, just like McD's. I'm genuinely confused as to how McDonald's could have lost this. McDonald's sells Big Mac sandwiches (using the Big Mac name) all over Europe. So none of this makes any sense to me. [1] https://order.supermacs.ie/product/customise/31 https://order.supermacs.ie/product/customise/31 [2] https://supermacs.ie/supermacs-food/ https://supermacs.ie/supermacs-food/
- binarymax 2y agoThey got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. You see, 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 they use a sesame seed bun. My buns have no seeds.
- banish-m4 2y agoNixing the chewy, slimy, limp, cooked pickle slices would be an improvement but I guess RealMickyD's never dogfooded their own slop.
- imchillyb 2y agoComing to America was an interesting treatise on American corporate culture. It was also a movie I think.
- queuebert 2y agoSecond best documentary ever made, after Idiocracy.
- walthamstow 2y ago
- vladde 2y ago> The decision by the EU General Court does not affect our right to use the ‘BIG MAC’ trademark Do they still have the trademark, or is BIG MAC up for grabs for anyone?
- bjornlouser 2y agoGot curious about their 'Mighty Mac': https://api.supermacs.ie//uploads/628d16681e300/medium-628d16681e300.png https://api.supermacs.ie//uploads/628d16681e300/medium-628d1... Two 'Irish Beef' patties with 'Burger Sauce'. Plus you can get curry fries, nice.
- rsynnott 2y ago> Two 'Irish Beef' patties 'Irish beef' here refers to the country of origin. This is a hangover from the BSE crisis, when people became very edgy about British beef. Restaurants nearly always say where beef came from ever since.
- TillE 2y agoThat's probably true, but it's also very common to see for example "British [meat]" or "German [meat]" marketed in their respective countries these days, not just beef.
- throw46365 2y agoParadoxically, British beef producers and their marketing board doubled down and made a virtue of Britishness, which seemed brave at the time, but was based on confidence -- and building confidence -- in the inspection and control regimes. Frankly I think that confidence has been repaid over the long term, but at the same time I have only eaten beef or lamb a handful of times a year since the late nineties, even though whatever risk I carry of some future diagnosis is entirely to do with having been alive and eaten beef before 1989!
- tails4e 2y agoThe 5oz is one of the best fast food burgers out there, better than a lot of fancy restaurant burgers
- zozbot234 2y agoThis just in: Apple to release a "Big Mac" pre-populated server rack based on their custom silicon, in a bid to compete with IBM mainframes for the "enterprise private cloud" space.
- hn_acker 2y agoOff-topic: In the US, McDonald's doesn't use a "Big Mac" product/brand name in the computer market, so Apple absolutely could name one of their computer products "Big Mac" in the US. The EU, I'm not sure.
- HPsquared 2y agoMcDonald's to give out small paperbacks with Happy Meals, called "Mac Book"
- tim333 2y agoIn case it makes McDonalds feel better I lived in Galway for a while and there was never much confusion between McDonalds and Supermacs. In general Supermacs was more expensive and lower quality but it would serve you drunk after coming out of the pub. Also they had a popular line of messy curry fries.
- tater11 2y ago[dead]