Reversing a previous High Court ruling, a Malaysian Court of Appeal judged on April 29, 2009 that the word McCurry, used as name by a local restaurant, was not infringing on the US fast-food giant McDonald’s trademark rights.

McDonald’s filed a request for injunction against McCurry in 2001, which was subsequently granted by the High Court in September 2006. The McCurry restaurant was therefore ordered to remove the “c” and change its name to “M Curry”. But the restaurant fought back by challenging in appeal the decision of the High Court.

This time, the Court of Appeal pointed out that no evidence showing that McCurry was infringing on McDonald’s business could be found, that the use of the letters “Mc” was a coincidence and that the two restaurants’ signboards were very dissimilar.

Source:
(i) http://www.malaysia-navi.jp/news/090503070853.html (ii) http://www.afpbb.com/article/economy/2599040/4106788 (iii) http://jp.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idJPJAPAN-37793320090430