The late 1990s saw a landmark lawsuit filed by Jack Cowin, whose Hungry Jack’s burger chain operated as the main franchise for the American Burger King Corporation. He accused Burger King of deliberately sabotaging the licensing contract because of a dispute over the chain’s name.

The roots of the problem went back to 1971, when Hungry Jack’s launched in Australia. At that time, the Burger King name was already owned by a South Australian chain, so Cowan was forced to choose an alternative for his franchise operation. Australians embraced the Hungry Jack’s name. However, in the 1990s, when the original trademark for Burger King in Australia lapsed, the Americans proposed to rebrand all the Hungry Jack’s stores.

Cowan objected, having invested heavily in his existing brand. Burger King Corporation began to fight dirty by entering the market directly and opening new outlets, competing with Hungry Jack’s. By June 1998, there were 11 Burger King-branded stores in New South Wales. Meanwhile, Burger King attempted to terminate the franchise agreement by manipulating its terms and making it impossible for Cowin’s Competitive Foods company to fulfil the contract’s expansion requirements.

The lawsuit against Burger King Corporation began in 1997, with Cowin contesting Burger King Corporation’s right to end the agreement and seeking damages. It became a significant case in Australian contract law. In 1999, Hungry Jack’s case succeeded, and the judge awarded Competitive Foods nearly $AU 71 million in damages. Burger King promptly appealed. In 2001, the Court of Appeal reached a unanimous decision that Burger King could not terminate the contract, finding that it hadn’t acted in good faith, having taken steps to engineer the breach of the contract. The damages awarded were somewhat reduced.

Burger King Corporation sold off its branded stores in Australia to a New Zealand company and these were eventually rebranded as Hungry Jack’s. It was a victory for a brand that is seen as having Australian roots.  With more than 400 locations across Australia, Hungry Jack’s remains the second-largest Burger King licensee in the world.