Food

McDonald's Halts Supermac's Australian venture

By Publications Checkout
McDonald's Halts Supermac's Australian venture

Fast food giant McDonald's has thrown a spanner in the works of Supermac's plans to set up shop in Australia.

The move by the Irish fast food chain Down Under has been delayed after McDonald’s objected to the Irish firm’s name being used in the country, according Sydney-based newspaper the Irish Echo.

Supermac's, which was founded by former schoolteacher Pat McDonagh and now has over 100 outlets in Ireland, applied to register the trade mark Supermac's.

However, despite the application being accepted for registration it was still opposed.

IP Australia, which overseas the registration process, confirmed to the Irish Echo that the opposition came from “McDonald’s Corporation”.

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“The matter is in the first stage of the evidence proceedings where McDonald’s Corporation are due to submit their evidence in support of the opposition by 2 March 2015,” an IP Australia spokeswoman said.

”Once the evidence in support has been filed there are two further stages of evidence to follow.”

If the objection is upheld, Supermac’s can appeal the decison to the Federal Court.

Supermac’s has total annual revenues of over €130 million between company-owned and franchised stores.