Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
In a historic judgment, the American fast food giant McDonald’s has reportedly lost an eight year old long legal battle to refrain a Malaysian restaurant to name itself as “McCurry“.

The McDonald’s had earlier argued on the fact that the usage of the “Mc” prefix in “McCurry” has violated its trademark. The Federal Court of Kuala Lumpur passed on the judgment saying that there was no valid evidence to prove that “McCurry” is trying to represent itself as a part of the biggest fast food chain of the world i.e. McDonald’s. The owner of “McCurry” reportedly stated that the prefix is an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry.

Judge Arifin Zakaria of Malysia’s highest court reportedly dismissed the application filed by McDonald as its “questions were not properly framed”. “At last the eight-year legal battle is over,” said a virtually jubilant owner of McCurry, Mr. A.M.S.P. Suppiah. On the other hand, McDonald’s lawyer Wong Sai Fong and the company’s spokesman Liam Jeory has said that the company would abide by the court’s decision. Any further comment from the company’s side was unavailable.

This is not the only time that the fast food giant has failed to refrain other companies who bears some sort of resemblance with the company’s name. “There are other similar cases where McDonald’s failed,” said Tan Tee Jim, a partner of the Singapore based Lee & Lee, as he cited another incident where some other company was allowed to use the name “McBeans” for gourmet coffee.

The judgment brings relief to Suppiah, who now plans to expand the fast-food restaurant which was put on hold due to the legal battle.