Big Mac In A Stew Over Trademark Suit

P C Mallappa and Co, which is based in Bangalore and Mangalore and deals in tiles and sanitaryware merchandise, has filed a suit against McDonalds challenging its right to use the logo.

The issue first surfaced in 1994 when the American fast food giant sent a notice to the company accusing it of violating its internationally well-known logo.

Following a notice from Big Macs lawyer in India, the Bangalore firm filed a suit in the Bangalore lower court. McDonald retaliated with a counter suit in the same court disputing its claim over the logo.

Mallappa has also subsequently moved the Delhi High Court for cancellation of the Macs registered M logo on the premise that the fast food giant has not used its logo since 1991 when it registered it in India.

It argues that this invalidates Big Macs claim to exclusivity over its logo. Under the Indian Trade Mark Act, a logo not used by a company for a period of five years and one month becomes naturally invalid.

Further, the firm claims that while Big Macs logo was of a single line, its own logo had double lines. Hence, there was no confusion.

In a recent notice, V Veeraraghavan, advocate for P C Mallappa, owner of the sanitaryware firm, has warned that his client was the exclusive owner of the trademark logo M and the trade mark application M P.C. Mallappa and Co., is pending registration under No 614934 in Class 19.

According to the advocates legal firm, Vee Vees, in Bangalore, its client has also registered his logo M under the Indian Copyright Act under no. A-52730/95.

The notice held that the client has received information that certain persons are imitating the clients trade mark and copyright.

Firm legal action both civil and criminal will be taken against them if they fail to desist from using the same immediately. Information regarding violation will be suitable rewarded, it declared.

In its notice to Indian firm, McDonalds Indian lawyer has held that the fast food giant had been using the logo for many years and also been operating a chain of fast food outlets in many countries which came to be known as the Big Mac because of the M logo.

Because of the extent of the business, the name Big M is associated with our client in the US and others in the world. Our client is also the registered proprietor of trademark Big Mac in Delhi, it said. It accused Mallappa of using its logo for sanitary goods with malafide intention of imitating its client. It held that both visually, and structurally, Mallappas logo was similar to McDonalds. This is s illegal and unjustified, it said.

l McDonalds results on P-13