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A Sri Lankan curry company has successfully defended the right to continue using its trade name "Mc Curry" despite objections by the US giant McDonalds which entered the country 12 years ago. 

The Lanka Spice Limited (LSL) had applied for the registration of its trademark logo consisting the word "Mc Curry", but the McDonald company of the US has objected, saying it infringed on their trade mark. 

The Intellectual Property Office rejecting 'the notice of opposition', concluded that the registration Mc Curry by Lanka Spice did not offend any of the provisions of the Intellectual Property Act. 

It said Lanka spice has had the name "MC", which was in fact an abbreviation for Markumbura Condiments. Markumbura is the village where the spice factory is located. They have been selling Mc Curry since 1982, long before McDonald's arrivals in Sri Lanka.

"Now that we have won, we want to put the nightmare behind us and focus on developing the Mc Currie franchise. 

Further, we will now take steps to register the brand 'Mc Curry' for a new range of curry bases (masala's) developed by SISIR (Singapore Institute of Scientific Research) into the Sri Lanka market," Nalin Pathikirikorale, chairman of the spice company said. 

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Published on our website on Dec14, 2010