Supermac’s beats McDonald’s in legal fight

Irish burger chain Supermac’s has won a trademark battle with McDonald’s. 

Pat McDonagh, Supermac’s founder and managing director, has hailed the victory for the fast-food chain, positioning it against McDonald’s powerful corporation, one of the world's largest fast-food restaurant chains.

​The decision came after Supermac's lost an appeal in June, when the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) rejected its bid to register its name across Europe.

Now, the UKIPO has ruled that Supermac’s and McDonald’s symbols and visuals are significantly different. The office found that these differences were "sufficient for a consumer not to directly confuse the marks."

McDonagh said that the decision was never made to combat McDonald’s but to defend the identity of the Irish business.

"We’ve never had their scale or resources, but we’ve always believed every business deserves the same protection under the law, regardless of its size,” he said.

“We weren’t trying to use anyone else’s reputation. We were simply protecting our own".

Supermac's already applied for a trademark in the EU in May 2016, but McDonald's opposed that petition, arguing that their Big Mac was registered as a trademark.

Later in 2024, the European Court of Justice turned down McDonald's exclusive right to use the label "Big Mac" in reference to chicken burgers sold in the EU.

“We’ll take it one step at a time, but it does give us the opportunity to open both in the North and in the UK if we so wish,” added Mr McDonagh.