USPTO Again Rejects McDonald's 'Extra Value Meal' Trademark as Merely Descriptive

The United States Patent and Trademark Office rejected McDonald’s trademark application for 'Extra Value Meal' for the second time on April 14, 2026. The office argued that the phrase describes a discounted food bundle not unique to McDonald’s. McDonald’s filed a new trademark application in July 2025 tied to its September 2025 meal deal re-launch.

McDonald’s re-launched its meal deal offerings in September 2025, including $5 sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle meals and $8 10-piece chicken McNuggets meals. The company has used the Extra Value Meal trademark on and off for 30 years, starting in the 1990s. McDonald’s discontinued the Extra Value Meal promotion in 2019.

McDonald’s allowed its Extra Value Meal trademark registration to lapse between late 2023 and 2024. A trademark attorney noted that it’s very rare for a large company to own a trademark for three decades and let it just abandon. The company could have used the term in promotional ways to hold onto the trademark longer.

“This is a routine update in a trademark filing process,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said. “It has zero impact on our ability to use ‘Extra Value Meal’ in our restaurants as we have for decades. Any claims otherwise are manufactured news.”

The USPTO rejected McDonald’s application for being 'merely descriptive,' meaning the phrase describes a bundled meal deal at an extra discount. McDonald’s argued that 'Extra Value Meal' has acquired distinctiveness, meaning consumers associate the phrase with McDonald’s due to marketing and 30 years of use.

McDonald’s filed an amendment to its application to reflect that the phrase 'Extra Value Meal' is already back in use.

The Extra Value Meal offering has played a crucial role in helping McDonald’s recover from sluggish growth as low- and middle-income consumers have cut back on dining out. In February, McDonald’s said its US same-store sales jumped 6.8% in the fourth quarter from the previous year – attributing the rise to its meal deals and special, limited-time offerings.