Supermac’s has won a trademark battle with a London bar and restaurant with a similar name, Supermax, stopping them from registering their name.
The Irish Independent report that the UK Intellectual Property Office ruled in favour of Pat McDonagh’s Supermac’s, saying that the similarity between their names could confuse customers.
In its decision the UKIPO cited the fact that both serve food and drinks, and will likely rely on promotional signage to attract business.
Other services listed by Supermax’s operators R7 Restaurants, such as ‘bar services’ and ‘booking of restaurant seats’, were evidently not enough to sway the regulator as to their differences.
However this decision will not be final until after the final conclusion of the long running trademark battle between Supermac’s and McDonald’s in the EU.
The two fast food chains have been battling it out over their names and the ‘Mc’ prefix for many years, with McDonald’s trying to block the Galway based chain from registering in the EU.
Last August saw Supermac’s win a partial victory over McDonald’s with the EU Intellectual Property Office ruling that the US giant no longer has the exclusive rights to use the ‘Mc’ prefix in multiple food areas.
Instead the trademark will be subject to a test to prove its usage in each instance of a product.
