The year 2017 is a record year for opening American fast food chains in the Netherlands, as they seem to be ‘flooding the Dutch market’. On the menu is Dunkin’ Donuts (relaunch after failing in 1997), TGI Friday’s (relaunch after failing in 1997), Five Guys, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut (relaunch after failing in 1973).
While McDonald’s and Burger King are well established fast food chains in the Netherlands, the third big name in burgers, Wendy’s, is nowhere to be found. Wendy’s opened a branch in Rotterdam in 1985 for 1.5 years, having already trademarked its name several times in the late 1970s, the late 1980s and on 1 and 7 December 1995. Wendy’s opened a few places in Belgium and Luxembourg, but eventually disappeared after 1986, although in 1987 they got a 10-year extension on the name, as trademarks are valid for 10 years and can be extended for 10 years at a time.
In 1988 Raymond Warrens bought out a snack bar and a croissant shop in Goes, Zeeland and named them after his daughter, Wendy, which is also what Wendy’s International founder Dave Thomas did. When Warrens registered the name of his businesses with the Chamber of Commerce, they said the name wasn’t a problem. Sometime later Warrens decided to trademark his company name on 16 February 1995.
Wendy’s International threatened Wendy’s from the Netherlands, and Wendy’s from the Netherlands fought back. Wendy’s International felt that they were a known brand and that Warrens trademarked his company name in bad faith, while Warrens says he had never heard of Wendy’s, that Wendy’s International was no longer registered with the Chamber of Commerce and that the trademark was no longer active in the Benelux.
Wendy’s International knew about Wendy’s from the Netherlands, otherwise they wouldn’t have sent threats. And much later in 1995 they reactivated their trademark, after Warrens had registered his. This meant that Wendy’s International was acting in bad faith, not Warrens. Warrens successfully had Wendy’s International’s trademark revoked and Wendy’s International was not happy.
Wendy’s International took their grievance to the European court and lost. To quote one of Warrens’ employees in the Volkskrant newspaper, “They [Wendy’s International] certainly didn’t expect that a hick from Zeeland would be a nuisance for 20 years”. And Wendy’s International is apparently going to fight some more, so we’ll update you some day.
(Links: hln.be, charlotteslaw.nl, Photo of burger by huppypie, some rights reserved)
If you want to get cheap apples, starting today you can get them in Zeeland for 50 cents per kilogram. Martin Duivekot from Vrouwenpolder has 80,000 kilogram Jonagold apples and nowhere to put them, 
Woman trolls offline, bad mistake!
Cristel was known to be a respectable woman, living a model life with her husband and dog in a detached house. However, behind those immaculate walls, AD says, the 51-year-old was busy writing letters to her neighbours signed with “a mother of three children” and “the group” in which she told the recipients that they were ugly, had ugly faces and big posteriors, and that she hoped their children wouldn’t grow up to be as ugly.
Don’t trash talk my children, a 32-year-old victim must have thought, and she contacted the neighbourhood cop who as it happens had also received hate mail from the same author. The police discovered about 15 people had received hurtful and sometimes threatening letters. Eventually the author was caught on 15 October and confessed immediately.
Last week during a meeting in the village’s only restaurant, ‘T Hoekske, the letter writer apologised to the victims. Her husband told people that his wife is undergoing treatment, although it’s not clear from the newspapers if it’s for her hateful tendencies.
Since none of the victims filed charges, the police won’t prosecute, much to the chagrin of the online peanut gallery who immediately branded her as a lunatic and a terrorist and clamoured for her arrest. This in turn led columnist Luuk Koelman to conclude that the woman’s biggest crime wasn’t writing hate mail, but doing it through the traditional post.
“On Internet forums it is custom to belittle everybody who disagrees with you. In real life the police may hunt you down when you tell a neighbour you think she is ugly. Online you can safely express your desire to see her dead or wracked with cancer. Nobody bats and eyelid at that.”
(Photo by Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, some rights reserved)
Share this:
Tags: borders, commenters, hate, hate mail, letters, police, policing, post, Zeeland