Big Mac loses to hot dog

HOT DOG seller Mr Allan Pedersen won a 30 month court fight against McDonald's on Wednesday, when the Danish supreme court rejected…

HOT DOG seller Mr Allan Pedersen won a 30 month court fight against McDonald's on Wednesday, when the Danish supreme court rejected the US fast food giant's claim that his McAllan roadside stand infringed its copyright.

Mr Pedersen, whose trailer in the provincial town of Silkeborg was named after Scotch whisky distiller Macallan, said he would celebrate his win with a visit to Scotland.

McDonald's Danish management said the judgment, in which it was ordered to pay 40,000 krone (£4,000) in costs, opened the floodgates to imitators.

Trademark lawyer Mr Hennk Holm Nielsen disagreed. "The general rule in trademark cases is that there should be a risk of confusion, which there is not in this case.

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"Nobody would think that they are at a McDonald's because this hot dog stand is called McAllan," he said.