KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - - A small Malaysian restaurant is
once again proudly trading as "McCurry", after its unlikely victory
in an eight-year legal battle with US fast food giant
McDonald's.
With its trays of fragrant tandoori chicken and fish masala, and
customers at formica tables cooled by fans turning lazily overhead,
the business is difficult to confuse with McDonald's and its racks
of burgers.
"You can't have fries with that but we do have a very good
potato curry," owner AMSP. Suppiah, 55, says with a laugh.
But Suppiah and his wife Kanageswary spent eight years battling
in the courts for the right to retain the name of the business,
pursued by McDonald's lawyers who forced them to operate as "M
Curry" for several years.
"We were surprised that a giant like McDonald's would want to
take action against us even though there was nothing in common
between us and them," Suppiah said.
"We decided to appeal because we felt we were right and the
court of appeal agreed with us this week," he said after a
Malaysian court ruled the business had not infringed on the
McDonald's trademark by using the prefix "Mc".
To the delight of the local press which has covered the landmark
case closely, Suppiah then took a tall ladder to climb to the
brightly coloured signboard and reinstate the controversial
"c".
Tucking into a breakfast of "dosai" or Indian pancakes, Suppiah
says he never expected to win the battle against the international
food giant.
"There were times when we almost gave up hope because who would
have imagined that we could win against such a big company with so
much money and resources at their disposal," he said.
The mom and pop operation is one of numerous simple restaurants
serving up Indian fare in this multicultural country, which is
dominated by Muslim Malays but also home to ethnic Indian and
Chinese communities.
Suppiah, a former accountant, says his troubles began when he
set up the restaurant in 1999, shortening the name Malaysian
Chicken Curry Restaurant to the McCurry restaurant.
"But within a year, I began receiving letters from McDonald's
urging me to change the name and threatening legal action."
Unable to resolve the impasse, McDonald's sued Suppiah and a
Malaysian High Court agreed with the hamburger chain in 2006,
forcing Suppiah to remove the prefix from his signs and
business.
Kanageswary says she is thrilled with the legal U-turn, but adds
the victory has come at a cost.
"We faced a lot of mental anguish and embarrassment over the
issue and for eight years our business has been in limbo because no
one wants to invest in a company facing litigation and so we have
not been able to make any improvements to the restaurant," she
said.
"Hopefully, we can move on now."
However, the Suppiahs' lawyer Sri Dev Nair thinks McDonald's
will not give up so easily.
"The case has shown that McDonald's want to control the monopoly
over the use of the prefix 'Mc' and it has a lot of money to be
able to do this so many small restaurants just give in to them," he
said.
"We expect them to challenge the ruling and we will be prepared
to face them in court."
The US corporation can apply to have the case reviewed in the
Federal Court, which is the court of last resort on the matter.
Suppiah says he does not hold any grudges.
"My children like eating at McDonald's so I will continue going
there and I would like to invite the president of McDonald's
worldwide to come here to McCurry's and have a dosai, on the house
-- but we can't supersize it."
--AFP