McCurry Branding Row

American fast food company McDonald's have just lost an 8 year legal battle with Malaysian fast food company McCurry, as McDonald's argued that they were infringing their trademark rights by using the 'Mc' prefix in their brand name. The owner of McCurry explained that he used the brand name as an abbreviation of 'Malaysian Chicken Curry', and it was ruled by a federal court that there was no evidence of him trying to promote the company as part of the worldwide brand of McDonald's.

When I initially saw the logo for McCurry it really did remind me of the McDonald's brand. But as the 'Mc' prefix is common in surnames anyway, and the owner seems to have a valid reason for using it, I don't see how McDonald's can really copyright the use of it. Perhaps if the Company used an alternative colour scheme it wouldn't resemble McDonald's as much. I think the ruling was fair though.