McDonald's Corp v Future Enterprise Pte Ltd

This decision concerns a dispute between McDonald's Corporation and Future Enterprise Pte Ltd before Hearing Officer Terry Williams of the Trade Marks Hearings. McDonald's sought the production of documents from Future Enterprise, which Future Enterprise resisted.

The central legal issue before the Hearing Officer was whether McDonald's was entitled to require the production of documents from Future Enterprise, and whether Future Enterprise had a "reasonable excuse" for not complying with a notice to produce those documents under section 202 of the relevant legislation.

The Hearing Officer reasoned that the test for arguable relevance of documents is not filtered by the burden of proof. He noted that if Future Enterprise possessed no such documents, it would be in no worse a position and could argue against a *Jones v Dunkel* inference. Conversely, if Future Enterprise held material relevant to the issue and suggesting no intention to misuse McDonald's trademarks, production would likely be appropriate, adopting a "generous approach" as a court would. The Hearing Officer concluded that the preconditions for issuing the notice under section 202 were met, meaning Future Enterprise had no reasonable excuse for non-compliance.

The substantive matter will proceed on the basis that Future Enterprise must comply with the notice to produce documents.