KUALA LUMPUR Malaysias highest court ruled on Tuesday against US fast food giant McDonalds, which has waged an eight-year battle to prevent local eatery 'McCurry' from using the prefix 'Mc' in its name.
'It is the end of the road for McDonalds. McCurry can use the prefix,' said lawyer Sri Dev Nair who represented the family-owned restaurant, which serves up Malaysian favourites like tandoori chicken and fish masala.
'McCurry and McDonalds are two different businesses which sell different types of food and they have different customers,' he said, rejecting McDonalds claim that the use of 'Mc' in its name could cause confusion.
In April, McCurry scored a David-and-Goliath victory when the appeals court overturned a 2006 high court decision that McCurry had illegally infringed on the burger chains trademark.
McDonalds on Tuesday sought permission from the federal court to contest the appeals court decision, but judges denied the application and said the burger chains petition was 'not properly framed'.
'It is unfortunate we have to dismiss the application with costs,' said Judge Arifin Zakaria, who headed the three-member panel. Costs amounted to 10,000 ringgit (2,845 dollars).
'Justice has been served. The food that we serve is very different from McDonalds,' said McCurry owner Kanaeges Suppiah.
'We have no similarities with them at all. Thats what we have felt all this while and thats why we could go on until this stage,' she told reporters.
McDonalds counsel declined to comment, saying they had to brief their client first.
'We abide by the courts decision,' lawyer Wong Sai Fong said.
The McCurry restaurant, which the owners say is short for Malaysian Chicken Curry Restaurant, was established in 1999. McDonalds has 185 outlets in Malaysia, the first of which it opened in 1982.
