McDonald’s' use of the trademark Big Mac has been cancelled in Europe, following an objection to its use by Supermac’s.

Hailed as a landmark ruling, the judgement by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) will take effect immediately.

Speaking on the Sean O’Rourke programme on Tuesday morning, Supermac’s CEO Pat McDonagh said that the ruling in the case now gives Supermac’s the opportunity to trademark its name in Europe.

“It began really when we applied for Supermac’s to be registered as a trademark in Europe and McDonald’s objected and were successful in their objection on the grounds that what they were saying is that we were similar to what they did.

“What we said is that there is no similarity … if you go into a Supermac’s it’s totally different to going into a McDonalds.

"Then we objected to their application for the trademark of Big Mac and that now has been decided by the EU.

"They have revoked the Big Mac trademark on three counts; first in relation to a burger, second in relation to a food item and thirdly in relation to food services.

“It gives us the opportunity to get our name trademarked in Europe,” he said.

McDonagh said that McDonald's registered quite a number of names across the word Mac.

“So whether it was ‘Mac Internet’ or ‘McCountry’, they registered all these names to set up a warehouse of all these names so that no one else could use them.

“[The court has decided you either] use it or lose it. You can’t have all these trademarks in reserve or what they call trademark bully.

“It’s pretty much a landmark decision. Worldwide, I think other companies are going to copy it now,” he said.

McDonagh said that he reckoned that McDonald's would reapply to have the Big Mac trademarked again as a burger.

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