Supermac’s name row escalates as McDonald’s lodges protest

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The global fast-food giant McDonald's, which is embroiled in a European trademark row with Supermac's, contacted advisers of the Irish company offering to walk away from the potentially costly dispute if Supermac's withdrew its application to register its brand across the European Union.

Pat McDonagh, the Galway-based founder of the Supermac's chain, told The Irish Times he refused the US behemoth's approach.

“Why would I accept it? They contacted our trademark representatives and basically asked us to back down, but I wouldn’t do that,” he said.

Mr McDonagh on Monday expressed surprise at the attempts by McDonald’s to block moves to register the “Supermac’s” trademark in the EU.

The US fast-food giant has lodged a 41-page objection to Supermac’s using its company name in Europe with the EU’s Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, which oversees trademarks and designs.

Unfair advantage

McDonald’s says by using the Supermac’s name in the EU the Irish group would take unfair advantage of the “distinctive character and repute” of McDonald’s own trademarks like the Big Mac, Chicken McNuggets and McMuffin.

It also argues the likelihood of the name causing confusion is “even more likely since the goods and services of the respective parties are identical or at least highly similar”.

However, Mr McDonagh claimed the two chains had “two very distinctive brands” with immediately identifiable menus and a clear difference in ingredients.

He also said both restaurants had grown and “happily coexisted together” in Ireland since 1978.

“The strongest point they make is that there may be confusion between the Supermac’s name and their own name,” he said.

The Supermac’s brand, which has more than 100 outlets in Ireland, is preparing a formal response to McDonald’s objections. Mr McDonagh said his company’s submission would emphasise that Supermac’s has been trading for 37 years under a brand derived “from my own surname”.