Re: Have Service Marks Gone too far?

On Mon, 09 Aug 1999, Nick Zales <zales[_at_]execpc.com> wrote:
>
> IP High-Poobah Bob Cumbow <rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com> asked:
> >
> > Would you therefore say it is permissible for anyone named McDonald
> > to open a hamburger stand, call it McDonald's, benefit from the half
> > century of goodwill that McDonald's has built up (at great effort and
> > expense),
>
> In a word -- Yes. Has not McDonald's only been around 40 years and
> was started by a guy named Ray Kroc? As long as a "real" McDonald didn't
> use the yellow and red color scheme, didn't have a clown hawking french
> fries, and didn't say it sells "billions and billions of ______" it
> would be okay. No one would be confused. Trade dress could not be
> copied and that confers plenty of protection.

Why do I get this image of the McDonald's Corporation coming down hard on a Mc/MacDonald, using the MacDonald of Glencoe tartan color scheme (basically, red, yellow, and black), who wants to open a haggis burger stand? I believe in the past the Kroc corporation has come down on small businesses who barely had anything to do with the food service business because of the name. And haggis burgers? The Kroc corporation would likely claim satire, so it wouldn't be held as a parody, and thus somewhat acceptable. And what if the spokes-entity for the haggis burger was a red-headed Scot in a Glencoe tartan kilt? Hmmmm...

Barb

Barbara Ruhmann
Text Buyer
UCD Bookstore
University of California
2828 Cowell Blvd.
Davis, CA 95616
Phone 530-752-5538
Fax 530-752-4791
e-mail brruhmann[_at_]ucdavis.edu
http://www-bookstore.ucdavis.edu/ Received on Tue Aug 10 1999 - 15:21:52 GMT