Apparently, McDonalds thinks it is the sole business of the world that is allowed to have "Mc" as part of its name.
Mc is no longer exclusive to McDonald's in Malaysia.
The fast-food chain lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent a Malaysian curry restaurant from using the name "McCurry."
...
McCurry, which stands for Malaysian Chicken Curry, first opened in 1999 and serves dishes including fish head curry and breads including roti chanai and tandoori naan, according to the restaurant's Web site. Its logo is a chicken giving a thumbs-up sign. [1]
Apparently, making your name and actually having it stand for something while having it start with "M" followed by a "C" is wrong, because it is the sole proprietary rights of McDonalds.
What a silly corporation to attack such a lowly business simply trying to make it in the world. So what if they're called McCurry? In the lawsuit, they [McDonalds] claimed it infringed on their copyright as it could confuse consumers.
I'm not sure about Malay [the official language of Malaysian], but in English, at least, "McCurry" sounds nothing like "McDonalds", other than the "Mc" part.
And if that's not enough, their ownership and offense at people using "Mc" coupled with another word doesn't end in "consumer confusion" claims against supposedly-rival food outlets, as you can not read:
In 2003, Merriam-Webster defined the term "McJob" as "low- paying and dead-end work," which prompted a sharp response from former McDonald's Chief Executive Jim Cantalupo.
In an open letter to Merriam-Webster, Cantalupo said "your inclusion of the term "McJob", with its definition of "low paying and dead end work ", is not only an inaccurate description of restaurant employment, it's also a slap in the face to the 12 million men and women who work hard every day in America's 900,000 restaurants."
That's right, the [former] Chief Executive of McDonalds wrote an attack letter to Merriam-Webster, those awesome word people. Why? For the simple face that they put "McJob" in their dictionary and defined it in a way that might be demeaning the McDonalds (because nobody can ever demean such a might corporation).
Apparently, Jim Cantalupo doesn't understand that dictionaries tend to include words and define them as they are being used in a social situations. "McJob" has been a demeaning term in society and pop-culture (it's been in quite a few movies) waaaay before 2003.
In fact, in high school, as I remember it, we had to write a research paper for our final in Senior English (way back in the ancient days of 1999). The paper had to be about career we were interested in, and we had to describe the steps to becoming the thing we wanted to be. My teacher snarkily specified, "I want this to be about a real career, not a McJob."
Though, it's not just absurd Asian lawsuits and stupidly nasty letters to the wonderful wordsmiths at Webster's that McDonalds has given the world! As always, we get home-brewed, frivolous American lawsuits (and the Big Mac, who can forget that they've given us the Big Mac!?), just like any other sector of American life:
Other "Mc" suits include one against a motel with the name McSleep and McCoffee, a San Francisco Bay area espresso shop named after its owner, Elizabeth McCaughey.
Really? They're suing McCoffee, which is named after its owner? How's that going to work out? She's clearly not trying to confuse consumers (again, not that "McCoffee" has anything to do with or sounds anything like "McDonalds"). Her name really is "McCoffee". That's how you pronounce "McCaughey" - McCoffee.
Well, good luck with that McDonalds. Maybe next time I decide to come in for something, I'll order something with a side of corporate fascism.
McDonalds: Their new campaign is a ten year plan to sue most of Ireland.
1. Source
Mc is no longer exclusive to McDonald's in Malaysia.
The fast-food chain lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent a Malaysian curry restaurant from using the name "McCurry."
...
McCurry, which stands for Malaysian Chicken Curry, first opened in 1999 and serves dishes including fish head curry and breads including roti chanai and tandoori naan, according to the restaurant's Web site. Its logo is a chicken giving a thumbs-up sign. [1]
Apparently, making your name and actually having it stand for something while having it start with "M" followed by a "C" is wrong, because it is the sole proprietary rights of McDonalds.
What a silly corporation to attack such a lowly business simply trying to make it in the world. So what if they're called McCurry? In the lawsuit, they [McDonalds] claimed it infringed on their copyright as it could confuse consumers.
I'm not sure about Malay [the official language of Malaysian], but in English, at least, "McCurry" sounds nothing like "McDonalds", other than the "Mc" part.
And if that's not enough, their ownership and offense at people using "Mc" coupled with another word doesn't end in "consumer confusion" claims against supposedly-rival food outlets, as you can not read:
In 2003, Merriam-Webster defined the term "McJob" as "low- paying and dead-end work," which prompted a sharp response from former McDonald's Chief Executive Jim Cantalupo.
In an open letter to Merriam-Webster, Cantalupo said "your inclusion of the term "McJob", with its definition of "low paying and dead end work ", is not only an inaccurate description of restaurant employment, it's also a slap in the face to the 12 million men and women who work hard every day in America's 900,000 restaurants."
That's right, the [former] Chief Executive of McDonalds wrote an attack letter to Merriam-Webster, those awesome word people. Why? For the simple face that they put "McJob" in their dictionary and defined it in a way that might be demeaning the McDonalds (because nobody can ever demean such a might corporation).
Apparently, Jim Cantalupo doesn't understand that dictionaries tend to include words and define them as they are being used in a social situations. "McJob" has been a demeaning term in society and pop-culture (it's been in quite a few movies) waaaay before 2003.
In fact, in high school, as I remember it, we had to write a research paper for our final in Senior English (way back in the ancient days of 1999). The paper had to be about career we were interested in, and we had to describe the steps to becoming the thing we wanted to be. My teacher snarkily specified, "I want this to be about a real career, not a McJob."
Though, it's not just absurd Asian lawsuits and stupidly nasty letters to the wonderful wordsmiths at Webster's that McDonalds has given the world! As always, we get home-brewed, frivolous American lawsuits (and the Big Mac, who can forget that they've given us the Big Mac!?), just like any other sector of American life:
Other "Mc" suits include one against a motel with the name McSleep and McCoffee, a San Francisco Bay area espresso shop named after its owner, Elizabeth McCaughey.
Really? They're suing McCoffee, which is named after its owner? How's that going to work out? She's clearly not trying to confuse consumers (again, not that "McCoffee" has anything to do with or sounds anything like "McDonalds"). Her name really is "McCoffee". That's how you pronounce "McCaughey" - McCoffee.
Well, good luck with that McDonalds. Maybe next time I decide to come in for something, I'll order something with a side of corporate fascism.
McDonalds: Their new campaign is a ten year plan to sue most of Ireland.
1. Source
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