A three-member Appeal Court panel overturned a 2006 high court ruling, saying there was no evidence to show that McCurry Restaurant was passing off McDonald’s business as its own, national Bernama news agency reported.
Appeal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram announced that the high court had “erred” in assuming that McDonald’s had an exclusive right to the use of the prefix, Bernama reported. He said McCurry’s signboard has white and grey letters against a red background with a picture of a smiling chicken giving a double thumbs-up, in contrast to McDonald’s red and yellow ‘M” logo. McCurry also serves only Indian food, not competing with McDonald’s western menu, he added.
“McCurry’s Restaurant signboard would not result in reasonable persons associating McCurry with the McDonald’s mark,” he concluded.
McCurry has said its name was an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry. Court officials and officials from McDonald’s and the McCurry Restaurant couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. McDonald’s began operations in Malaysia in 1982 and has 137 outlets in the southeast Asian country.
Source: Shanghai Daily
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