McPatel takes on McDonald's over ‘Mc' monopoly
McPatel
Foods Pvt Ltd, has dragged global fast-food giant McDonald's Corporation to the court. The
Ahmedabad
-based firm, which sells French fries under the brand 'Ohh! Potato', filed a trademark suit accusing McDonald's of issuing 'groundless threats' over its use of the prefix. Last month, McPatel moved the Ahmedabad rural court, seeking to restrain McDonald's from objecting to the use of 'Mc' in its name. The suit was filed under Section 142 of the Trademark Act to prevent the multinational company from issuing 'groundless threats'.
According to senior counsel H S Tolia, representing McPatel, 'McDonald's issued a notice to McPatel claiming that the
prefix Mc
is its identity and insisted that the local company should stop using this prefix or else it would take legal action. Since initiating mediation proceedings is a prerequisite before filing a commercial suit, McDonald's instituted mediation proceedings in the Delhi high court and McPatel participated in it. However, McDonald's was adamant that McPatel must not use Mc in its trademark and the parties could not reach any compromise.'
'Since the mediation proceedings did not yield any result, McPatel filed a suit in the Ahmedabad rural court, seeking to restrain McDonald's from threatening it with legal action,' added Tolia. 'This is because McPatel is entitled to use the prefix Mc on several counts. We contend that the prefix Mc is very generic, and it means 'son of'. By citing different examples of the use of this prefix, we have stated that the name suggests the son of Patel. It is aimed at honouring the
Patel community
.'
The court has issued a notice to McDonald's and scheduled a hearing on the matter for July 28.
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