Video: McDonald takes on local pickling business

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MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. - A man who sells pickled cocktail garnishes in the Puget Sound region has found himself in a battle with a fast food chain.

Five years ago, Jim McCaslin bought a pickled onion business called "McSweet" from a man named Leo McIntyre.

After enjoying several years of respectable success, he decided last year to trademark McSweet.

But McDonald's filed an opposition to his request. In a written statement, the company says it's required to protect its trademark against third parties using confusingly similar marks.

"Just the whole word part of it, and how they're able to monopolize the English language, I find it very humorous," McCaslin said.

The controversy has delayed his application and forced him to spend hundreds of dollars in legal fees.

McCaslin's products are sold at Metropolitan Markets, QFC and Elliot's Oyster House. He also makes pickled olives, garlic and beans.

McCaslin says McDonald's is offering to let him use the McSweet name if he drops his trademark requests.

"I feel like the avenues of commerce are so different as such so we don't overlap or compete or any of that," he said.

www.McSweet.com

McSweet's Pickled Cocktail Onions first hit the market in 1990.

These types of cases are not uncommon.

"From McDonald's point of view, when you have a valuable strong nationally known brand, it has to be vigilant in protecting its rights," said Michael G. Atkins, trademark attorney for Graham and Dunn.

McCaslin is now waiting for this case to go before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Review Board.