KUALA LUMPUR: It appears that when any name with an "Mc" in front of it's lawsuit time fort the McDonald's people.
An eight-year legal battle between McDonald's and a Malaysian restaurant called McCurry over copyright infringement is set to continue on Monday in the country's highest court.
McCurry doesn't sound or look like McDonald's or even make us think McDonald's in the slightest way, yet McDonald's is appealing against the decision made against them on April 29 that its trademark had not been infringed upon by the local restaurant, in the country's capital of Kuala Lumpur.
McCurry serves Malaysian staples such as fish head curry and is short for "Malaysian Chicken Curry," according to the company website "The whole issue is about the name of my restaurant on the signboard," McCurry owner, P. Suppiah told Reuters on Friday.
Monday's hearing in the federal court will determine if the case goes to another trial.
The McDonald's operation in this country of 27 million people is run as a franchise by prominent businessman Vincent Tan. (picture here in our story)
Tan's Net Worth is $1.3 billion and he got his start as a McDonald's franchisee. Self-made entrepreneur, runs Berjaya group of companies, which has annual revenues of $4 billion. Shares of main holding Berjaya Corp and Berjaya Land, which has big investments in Vietnam real estate, have both jumped in the last year, making him a new billionaire. But the busy Mr. Tan still finds time to target a restaurant that has an "Mc" in it's name.
This particular case is no different," McDonald's Asia corporate relations vice president, Liam Jeory, said.
Sorry Mr. Vincent Tan, we don't understand your claim of infringement at all, unless you really think you are the center of the universe.
