Well this is pretty McSleazy!!!

[Eric Perry]

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/0...f-mcdonalds%2F




You couldn't blame Lauren McClusky of Chicago if she were a bit squeamish about using her last name in this story without fear of reprisal from Ronald McDonald and his legal posse.

For McClusky, 19, finds herself at the center of a thorny dispute that involves a series of charity concerts she's put on over the past three years. She dubbed the event "McFest" (more on that in a moment) -- but McDonald's sees that as an infringement on its trademarks, something the McDonaldland lawyers refer to as "the McFamily of brands."

These include (deep breath): McPen, McBurger, McBuddy, McWatch, McDouble, McJobs, McShirt, McPool, McProduct, McShades, McFree, McRuler, McLight -- and even the prefix "Mc" itself.

"But not McFest," pointed out McClusky, who declined to change her last name for this story. "The whole reason I called it McFest in the first place is my name."

Her original co-chair for the first McFest also shared the "Mc" prefix in her surname, so it seemed a natural. And indeed, not a single McDonald's attorney seemed to object in 2007 and 2008, when McClusky's McFests raised $30,000 for the Chicago chapter of Special Olympics.

But when McClusky applied to have the McFest name protected, McDonald's filed an opposition. So instead of donating funds from her 2009 concert to Special Olympics, McClusky's had to hire lawyers to answer a series of administrative proceedings McDonald's filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. To date, it's cost her roughly $5,000 -- money she wishes had gone to Special Olympics kids instead of attorneys.

The daughter of independent radio promoter Jeff McClusky, Lauren McClusky could of course just change the event name. But that would involve starting from square one in terms of the awareness and name recognition she's already created for her concert series. "It's hard to change the name of something that's already established and locally known," she said.

As for McDonald's actions, McClusky says she's frustrated by the company's desire to clamp down on and in effect penalize a charity event -- especially when McDonald's supports Special Olympics as well. "It has nothing to do with food, arches or their colors," she said. "And our M's are pointy, not curved."

McClusky hopes for a truce that will allow her to keep the McFest name. Still, she's unwilling to make a corporate sponsorship tradeoff along the lines of "McDonald's Presents McFest." For their part, McDonald's representatives maintained that they have no desire to squash McClusky's charitable efforts, and desire an "amicable resolution."

"However, the law requires us to guard against third parties that infringe our trademarks and to take the necessary action to stop those infringements," said McDonald's spokeperson Ashlee Yingling. "We believe the mark at issue, 'McFest,' is similar enough to our brand name and McDonald's famous family of 'Mc' trademarks that it's likely to cause confusion under trademark standards and/or dilute our valuable trademark rights." The company declined further comment, citing the pending litigation -- or, if you prefer, further McLegal action.

McClusky said that at first, she was "kind of honored" that McDonald's would even care enough to respond to her McFest trademark applications. "But when we realized how serious it was, then it just got ridiculous and offensive. They just wouldn't listen."

[jwbassman]

McPathetic

Let it go and help some special needs kids. No big surprise though really.

[Selta]

What they (McDonlands) is saying is true though. When you have those names, you have to defend them. A parellel can be drawn here to a lot of the Apple cases in the past. You have to defend it .
Now, with that said, it does suck and McD's should just accept whatever proposition given to them, but only time will tell if it happens that way or not.

[Phalex]

They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs.

And how come McDonald's has the big Mac? The MacDonald's wear plaid and play bagpipes. I think that Scotland may take issue with that choice of sandwich name.

[DudeistMonk]

This national as a whole is so law suit happy it sickens me....I'm off to buy the hottest coffee I can...hopefully I can find someone mopping too and hit the big money.

[McHack]

Oh, thought you were McDoggin on me... O.o

[tplyons]

It's like Monster Cable all over again.

[Eric Perry]

I also e-mailed them, letting them know I am making their lawsuit as well known as I can, and am calling for boycotts of their gross food. Will it do anything? Of course not. Do I feel better, yep.

It would be one thing if it was a corporate battle, but it's a charity for a well known and established cause for chrissakes!

[guroove]

Wow, this is all I needed to give me another reason not to eat their disgusting food.

[ehque]

Unfortunately, McD's hands are tied. If they do not at least try to defend the trademark, it can be deemed undefendable, common property and then someone can open a fast food restaurant as similar to McD's name as they can.

[UncleFluffy]

I thought that "McFest" wasn't actually their trademark. USPTO site seems down right now so I can't check.

And "Mc" as a prefix was in use well before McDogfood started using it so claiming "everything that starts with Mc" is ridiculous.

[Raven2k360]

Originally Posted by Phalex

They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs.

And how come McDonald's has the big Mac? The MacDonald's wear plaid and play bagpipes. I think that Scotland may take issue with that choice of sandwich name.

Here's my question -- why didn't they try and sue Mark McGwire for his nickname, 'Big Mac'....?

[Darkstrike]

Hmmm, everyone with a Mc-last name should be made change it too.......

[Thor]

It's McLame, because in reality the could sign a one time
McLegal release reserving their trademarks. However, they
don't own all the Mc's in the McUniverse, so the might have
forgot to McTrademark this one.

Also, according to the TESS at USPTO.gov it look like your friend changed attorneys in November. That may hold things up a bit.

Two things your friend has going for her
* Doesn't look like Mac's ever TM'ed Mc Fest
* It is in a whole different area of endeavor.

Case in point, Visa is TM'ed in credit cards, a different
company that sells napkins has it TM'ed in that field.

Of course, should your friend prevail, she could always ask
for a summary judgement to recover costs and that they be
donated to her charity.

The TESS site showed the date of publication, and date of opposition, Feb
2009 iirc. It has not yet been registered as the TM appeals are pending.

[Raven2k360]

Originally Posted by ehque

Unfortunately, McD's hands are tied. If they do not at least try to defend the trademark, it can be deemed undefendable, common property and then someone can open a fast food restaurant as similar to McD's name as they can.

MacDougal's!!!

[Munjibunga]

Dunno. If I were here, I might acquiesce to McDonald's McFest if they were to kick in, say, $100,000 to the cause. That's is a rounding error to them. You know, chump change.

[ericw]

Originally Posted by Eric Perry

...not a single McDonald's attorney seemed to object in 2007 and 2008, when McClusky's McFests raised $30,000 for the Chicago chapter of Special Olympics.

But when McClusky applied to have the McFest name protected, McDonald's filed an opposition. So instead of donating funds from her 2009 concert to Special Olympics, McClusky's had to hire lawyers to answer a series of administrative proceedings McDonald's filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. To date, it's cost her roughly $5,000 -- money she wishes had gone to Special Olympics kids instead of attorneys.

So... she's trying to trademark "McFest" and McDonald's doesn't want her to... they didn't have a problem with her using it but they don't want her to trademarking it (for obvious reasons). Doesn't seem unreasonable. If she really wished the money had gone to the special olympics instead of attorneys give up on trademarking it?

[kydnav]

I wonder what McDreamy and McSteamy have to say about this!

[Eric Perry]

I'm guessing they'd say it's McDumb.

[knumbskull]

Originally Posted by ehque

Unfortunately, McD's hands are tied. If they do not at least try to defend the trademark, it can be deemed undefendable, common property and then someone can open a fast food restaurant as similar to McD's name as they can.

:mcmad: