Wendy’s faces brand problem in Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia — Call it a tale of two Wendy’s. One is an American fast-food chain, known for the pigtailed girl on its logo and its square hamburger patties on circular buns. The other, Wendy’s Milk Bar, slings soft-serve ice cream, hot dogs and “supashakes” in suburban Australian shopping malls.
For decades, the companies’ near-identical names have caused few problems. But reports that the American hamburger company is considering establishing an Australian presence have prompted wild speculation of a Wendy’s-on-wendy’s dust-up.
Earlier this week, Abigail Pringle, the president and chief development officer of the American Wendy’s, told the Australian Financial Review that she intended to meet virtually with prospective franchisees in Australia and hoped to establish outlets across the country.
“We think that the Australian market could be hundreds of restaurants,” Pringle said.
But what would those hundreds of outlets be called? Immediately, many in Australia thought of another American fast-food chain that had faced similar issues.
Since 1971, international visitors to Australia have had cause to pause while passing by what seems remarkably like a Burger King. Outlets of the fast food chain have the same look and color scheme, and even the same logo design, with a name sandwiched within a hamburger bun.
But in Australia, the company’s franchisee operates under the somewhat less regal moniker of “Hungry Jack’s,” in part for its founder, Australian billionaire Jack Cowin.
“When Burger King thought to operate in Australia, someone had a registered trademark that really gave them the monopoly to the name Burger King,” said Andrew Terry, a professor of business regulation at the University of Sydney Business School.
“The only option for Burger King was to buy the proprietor of that trademark out” — in this case, the owner of a small takeout restaurant in the city of Adelaide — “or else, as they chose to do, to operate under another name,” he said.
What does this mean for the twin Wendy’s? Potentially less than you might expect, said Blair Bevan, an intellectual property lawyer based in Sydney and partner at the commercial law firm Holding Redlich.
Both Wendy’s have long-standing registered trademarks in Australia, and both had recently been renewed, he said. They had been accepted under a particular provision of Australian intellectual property law.
It was therefore likely that the Australian trademarks office had highlighted the possibility of confusion in the marketplace, requiring either further evidence or a letter of consent from the other party, Bevan said.
“I think that there has probably already been a deal done, and that Wendy’s Australia has already acknowledged Wendy’s U.S. trademark rights here in Australia and allowed the coexistence,” he said. That would allow the two trademark applications to be accepted and registered unopposed.
So long as the Australian Wendy’s sticks to ice cream and hot dogs, and the American Wendy’s offers burgers and fries, there would be little issue, Bevan said. “I suspect they will both stay in their lanes to try and limit that confusion,” he added.