EU trademark laws stipulate that a trademark owner can lose protection if it cannot show genuine use within a continuous period of five years. The court’s decision highlighted that genuine use must align with the essential functions of the trademark, such as indicating the origin of the goods.
Supermac’s initially challenged the trademark in 2017, after McDonald’s prevented it from entering the EU market by arguing that there would be confusion between McDonald’s Big Mac sandwich and the Supermac’s name. While the EU court’s Cancellation Division initially upheld Supermac’s complaint, the Board of Appeal later allowed McDonald’s to retain the trademark for some goods and services, including chicken sandwiches. Supermac’s then requested the General Court to intervene and revoke all trademark protections except for “meat sandwiches.”
Despite McDonald’s attempts to show that it had used the Big Mac slogan on chicken sandwiches in the EU, the General Court found the evidence insufficient. The pictures provided by McDonald’s did not demonstrate sales volume, duration of use, or frequency of the sign’s appearance.
