McDonald's Corporation v Mark Vincent Glaser

McDonald's Corporation (the Opponent) opposed the registration of a trade mark by Mark Vincent Glaser (the Applicant). The decision was made by Iain Campbell Thompson, presumably in his capacity as Registrar of Trade Marks, given the reference to section 55 of the Act and the Registrar's role in deciding on trade mark applications. The core of the dispute concerned whether the Applicant's proposed trade mark should be registered, having regard to the grounds of opposition raised by McDonald's Corporation.

The primary legal issue before the Registrar was to determine, pursuant to section 55 of the relevant Act, whether to refuse or register the Applicant's trade mark. This decision was to be made by considering the extent to which any grounds on which the application was opposed by McDonald's Corporation had been established. The Registrar was required to apply the provisions of section 55, which outlines the Registrar's mandatory decision-making process at the conclusion of opposition proceedings.

The Registrar's reasoning, as indicated by the outcome, was that the grounds of opposition raised by McDonald's Corporation had been established to a sufficient extent to warrant refusal. Consequently, the Registrar decided to refuse the registration of the trade mark. In addition to refusing the application, the Registrar also addressed the Opponent's request for costs, awarding costs against the Applicant in accordance with the scale set out in Schedule 8 to the Trade Mark Regulations 1995.