990703 Burger King to Defend Big Kids Meal Name

Miami, FL - Burger King Corp said it will defend its use of the name Big Kids Meal despite a recent lawsuit filed by McDonald's, which claimed they had secured the rights to use that name.

“You can bet we'll defend our right to use this name vigorously,” said Richard Taylor, vice president of marketing.

On June 28, Burger King, a subsidiary of Britain-based Diageo Plc started to offer Burger King Kids Meals, larger-size children's meals, which include a toy, to appeal to 7-to-12 year olds, creating another niche to lure more customers in the highly competitive fast food business.

But McDonald filed a lawsuit on June 30, after having used the Big Kids Meal name during a three week regional promotion in the south eastern Michigan area during the summer of 1998.

“This (the Big Kids Meal) was a three week promotion with half a million spent in advertising,” said Chuck Ebeling, spokesman at McDonald's.

“It was regional but often after successful promotions, other McDonald's will pick them up as well. McDonald's intends on repeating it (the Big Kids Meal promotion),” Ebeling added.

McDonald's has a registered trademark application pending on the Big Kids Meal name, according to Ebeling.

But according to Burger King, McDonald's trademark application has already been rejected.

“That is our understanding,” said Kim Miller, a spokeswoman at Burger King. “Big Kids Meal is a generic term. It's like putting a trademark on the word 'dinner,”' she added.

Miller said Burger King will continue to use the name and added “We are very confident in our rights.”

McDonald's Big Kids Meal promotion entailed a slightly different fare and instead of a toy, offered a coupon booklet for amusement park visits, according to Ebeling.

“We targeted young adults and Burger King targets teens, but frankly, I don't think consumers can really differentiate that,” Ebeling said.

“We are pretty surprised that Burger King declined to stop using the name,” he added.

Burger King Big Kids Meal, a nationwide effort, competes against other McDonald's ongoing promotions also, which have included giveaway collectible Beanie Babies, and Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.'s Star Wars toy giveaways at its Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC restaurants.

The Big Kids Meal is bigger than Burger King's other children's meals, includes a toy as well as a double hamburger, double cheeseburger, or a 6-piece serving of chicken strips, with small fries and a 16-ounce drink, plus a toy. The hamburger meal will cost about $2.79 and the other meals will cost $2.99.

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