A European Union court said on Wednesday that McDonald’s can’t call any of its chicken sandwiches a “Big Mac.”
The decision comes after Supermac’s, an Irish fast-food chain, asked the EU in 2017 to take away McDonald’s decades-long trademark on the use of the Big Mac name for a variety of food products and services sold at its restaurants. It said the U.S. fast-food giant hadn’t put the trademark to real use for five years in a row.
The EU Intellectual Property Office let McDonald’s keep using the name for chicken and meat sandwiches. Supermac’s then made an appeal.
Supermac’s has been around since 1978, when it opened its first restaurant. It now has more than 100 locations all over Ireland, selling food like burgers, chicken nuggets, subs, and salads.
The Luxembourg-based EU General Court said in a statement on Wednesday that it partially agreed with Supermac’s and limited the scope of McDonald’s trademark. It said McDonald’s hadn’t shown that it had used the Big Mac name legitimately for chicken sandwiches or poultry products in the European Union for five years in a row.
“McDonald’s loses the EU trademark Big Mac in respect of poultry products,” the judge said.
It will take the U.S. company almost two and a half months to file an appeal with the European Court of Justice, which is Europe’s highest court.
“The decision by the EU General Court does not affect our right to use the ‘BIG MAC’ trademark,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said in an email. “Our iconic Big Mac is loved by customers all across Europe, and we’re excited to continue to proudly serve local communities, as we have done for decades.”
“This is a significant ruling that takes a common-sense approach to the use of trademarks by large multi-nationals,” the firm said.
