Burger King is taking advantage of McDonald’s recently lost Big Mac trademark in the best way possible: trolling the ever-loving @!#$ out of them.
Let’s recap: in Europe, ubiquitous fast-food chain McDonald’s no longer owns the trademark to the words “Big Mac.” The European Union Intellectual Property Office tossed out the trademark after rival Irish burger joint Supermac’s successfully argued that McDonald’s trademark was only to prevent Supermac’s expansion out of Ireland and into the remainder of Europe.
EUIPO agreed with Supermac’s and summarily tossed out McDonald’s trademarks on their most iconic burger.
In Europe, anyway. McDonald’s still has plenty of trademarks here in the US. However, the sudden power vacuum overseas has made it possible for rival burger chains to pick up the Big Mac name and use it for somewhat less scrupulous purposes.
While Supermac’s is free to include the Mac moniker on as many burgers as they please, so too can anyone else in Europe. And Burger King is taking full advantage of that fact in their revamped menu.
RELATED: IRISH BURGER JOINT OVERTURNS MCDONALD'S 'BIG MAC' TRADEMARK IN EUROPE
What used to be The Whopper or Whopper Junior now have names like “The Burger Big Mac Wished it Was,” “Anything but a Big Mac,” and “Like a Big Mac but Actually Big.”
“McDonald’s just lost its trademark for the Big Mac for suing a much smaller player … it’s too much fun for us to stay away,” said Iwo Zakowski, CEO of Burger King’s Sweden.
@McDonalds lost the EU trademark to the #Bigmac and this is how @BurgerKing has launched in Sweden. The cheekily-named items are: Like a Big Mac, but Actually Big. In true Burger king style, the 'beef' between the brands was created by creative agency INGO #marketing pic.twitter.com/E7Ir1GtaCO
— Simon Greally (@GreallySimon) February 5, 2019
To drive the message home, Burger King Sweden released a new advertising campaign to notify local Swedes of the new naming conventions. They called their new selection of pressed beef patty sandwiches the “Not A Big Mac” menu, which is pretty on the nose.
In addition to losing the Big Mac trademark, McDonald’s also lost the right to use the “Mc” prefix on menu items, meaning things like McNuggets and McFlurry are also fair game for rival fast food chains. We haven’t Dairy Queen bust out the new “Not A McFlurry” menu, but we’re sure it’s right around the corner.
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