# Get McFucked **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 11, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006 "2005-03-11T13:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cj\_finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@cj\_finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cj_finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/21 "2005-03-11T19:28:37Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Uh oh…my last name is McLaughlin. Better keep a low profile. If there is one thing I know about McLaughlins, its that they don’t know the first thing about keeping a low profile. Especially when they are from the south side of Chicago. Hopefully you came from a more gentile branch of the family! CJ ---
**Author:** ![cj\_finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@cj\_finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cj_finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/22 "2005-03-11T19:30:12Z")
I’m sure that you understood that I meant to write “genteel”, though gentile probably works as well. CJ ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/23 "2005-03-11T19:34:16Z")
Wow, that _is_ pretty stupid. It’s the guys NAME, for crying out loud. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/24 "2005-03-11T19:49:50Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Wow, that _is_ pretty stupid. It’s the guys NAME, for crying out loud. Well, if your name is McDonald, just try opening a hamburger shop using your name as the name for the shop 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/25 "2005-03-11T19:50:50Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Well, if your name is McDonald, just try opening a hamburger shop using your name as the name for the shop 🙂 How about if my name is McDowell? ---
**Author:** ![cj\_finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@cj\_finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cj_finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/26 "2005-03-11T19:57:36Z")
A few of us were talking about this at lunch and came up with a few reasons why we might tell McDonald’s to do the same thing, provided of course, that we could land that cash cow as a client (pardon the metaphor mixing). NOTE: I am not defending McD’s, just playing the devil’s advocate. 1. The boundary wherein legal use ends and dilution of a mark begins is kind of unclear. If you allow too much use, your mark could lose strength/value. Therefore, they may be going after everyone as a matter of principle in that if the court decides that that use is not diluting the mark, then its not; in this scenario there is no gray area. 2. Deterrance - because dilution can hurt McD’s, they go after everyone. After a while their reputation is such that folks self censor to avoid using McD’s marks (or something similar), thereby achieving the same ends. 3. Law firm milks client for every last dime. Nuff said. > [@blowero](#): > > Wow, that _is_ pretty stupid. It’s the guys NAME, for crying out loud. ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/27 "2005-03-11T19:58:27Z")
For some weird reason, while scrolling page of the thread titles, I would always read this one as **Get MeFucked** , pause and wonder for a second and move on. Even when I entered to read it it was wanting to know why the OP wants to get fucked?? It happens…sometimes. Please carry on. ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/28 "2005-03-11T20:40:30Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > And on preview, McBite me, **harmy**. 😛 McBear it and we’ll McShare it. McOg, I can’t McStop! ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/29 "2005-03-11T20:49:03Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I’m not picky. Considering your screen name, you better not be! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/30 "2005-03-11T21:10:15Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Wow, that _is_ pretty stupid. It’s the guys NAME, for crying out loud. [Apparently that doesn’t matter.](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r102:S22MR1-31:) That’s right, you can’t go into business under your own name or nickname, if somebody else was there first - even if they’re in a completely different business: > [@](#): > > (Senate - March 22, 1991) > > [Page: S4092] > > Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I wanted to come to the Senate floor to tell you and my colleagues about a drama that has unfolded in Baltimore, come to a head in Baltimore, and it tells the story of how a big, foreign-owned corporation has set about wrecking the American dream of a small woman entrepreneur. The story is a simple one. > > A woman comes to this country from the Philippines and her first name is Sony. Her last name is Florendo. She goes about working hard to save a few pennies to open a small downtown restaurant in Baltimore. Through her own great recipies and sweat equity, she builds a business, and she calls it Sony’s. > > In comes Sony Electronics and tells her she cannot do business using their name. They then proceed to take her into court, threaten her with all kinds of lawsuits, and finally the other day they won. And Sony Florendo’s restaurant is no longer in Baltimore now. It is S. Florendo. The law is an ass. But we already knew that. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/31 "2005-03-11T21:43:31Z")
Just by memory since I have to go out: There was a hamburger or bar place that had the name “Jeep’s” of course, Chrysler corp. took the owner to court. The bums at Chrysler lost the case when the mother of the owner produced a picture of him with a sign that had his nickname as a kid years before Chrysler made the Jeep. The lawyers then retorted that the owner of the place and Chrysler reached an agreement: Chrysler will not do hamburgers and Mr. Jeep will not make cars! As for _McDonass_, 60 minutes reported years ago that there is an inn in England (or Scotland) called McDonalds, that is older than the golden arches and they do serve food too! I would like to see them put a shop in America just to make the super sizers super annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/32 "2005-03-11T21:46:00Z")
At least that’s a _little_ more logical. If the guy’s name was McDonald, and he opened a hamburger joint and called it McDonald’s then I could maybe see the point of not allowing him to do that. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/33 "2005-03-11T21:56:11Z")
Damnit! Stop slipping posts in there before me. 😉 I was responding to RTFirefly’s. And to expound, I understand that McDonald’s invented the idea of sort of randomly attaching “Mc” to the front of words, and I don’t think that anyone should be allowed to do that indiscriminately, and I also understand that you might not be able to use your own name as the name of your company if someone else used it first. But THIS case makes no sense to me. He’s not stealing the “Mc” idea from McDonald’s, it’s already part of his name. And he’s not stealing their name, because the first two letters are the only thing they have in common. I’m actually not against them saying, “Hey, we invented the Mc thing; you can’t do it”, but I just don’t think that’s what happened here. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/34 "2005-03-11T22:15:54Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Wow, that _is_ pretty stupid. It’s the guys NAME, for crying out loud. Actually, McFuckwits have said to McBratney that they won’t try to stop him if he uses his whole name. Of course. “McBratney” is too long to fit across the player’s asses, so that’s no use. Bear in mind that McBratney has just changed firms, he needs publicity, he sponsors a football team (know many consumers of intellectual property who choose their lawyer based on what they see written on a lower grade rugby league footballer’s ass?) he uses a mark on their uniform that is going to get up the nose of the biggest baddest trademark defender in the land and as a result, ends up with a story including his name, his photo, his description as an intellectual property lawyer and the name of his firm, on the front page of the major newspaper for this city. Do I need to paint you a picture? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/35 "2005-03-11T22:29:21Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There’s a burger joint in a town out in Panama’s boondocks called _McPato’s_ (McDuck’s). Their logo is a Disney-type duck that resembles one of Donald’s nephews. It has always amused me that they had the temerity to imitate on not one but two of the most rottweilerlike companies in the world in defense of their corporate identities. I’m sure they’ve only been able to get away with it because they’re so far off the beaten track. There are a couple of McDuck’s in Chicago - same Donald-like logo, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/36 "2005-03-11T22:56:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There’s a burger joint in a town out in Panama’s boondocks called _McPato’s_ (McDuck’s). Their logo is a Disney-type duck that resembles one of Donald’s nephews. It has always amused me that they had the temerity to imitate on not one but two of the most rottweilerlike companies in the world in defense of their corporate identities. I’m sure they’ve only been able to get away with it because they’re so far off the beaten track. > > What I would _really_ like to see, however, is Disney suing Mickey D’s over the rights to the name “Donald.” Allow me to explain: Scrooge McDuck got translated into Spanish as Rico McPato, thus the name. Funny eh? Donald’s uncle is called McDuck, I wish McDonald would sue Disney and maybe they would self-destroy in a giant legal meltdown. Oh well, a girl’s dream. 😃 Now, I take your McPato and raise you a McDowell: years ago, before the WTO put their foot down and made us respect international trademarks, there was a McDowell in one of the most important corners of the city. And they had an M that had an eerie resemblance to the golden arches. All coincidences of course ;). The first McDonald franchise in the island was there. They had to buy them off. ---
**Author:** ![cj\_finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@cj\_finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cj_finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/37 "2005-03-11T22:57:38Z")
There was also a Burger King somewhere in central Illinois that predated the mega-corporation. They were allowed to continue business in their area with the provision that they cannot expand out of that area. The way it works is that if I register my trademark with the US PTO, I am entitled to exclusive use of that mark throughout the US. But where you later find someone that was using the name first, your rights are subject to the rights of that senior user of the mark. If that senior user was only selling burgers in a small midwestern town, that’s where the senior user has rights. You can’t go into that area. BUT, and this is the big one, your trademark rights will prevent the senior user from expanding into the area that you have exclusive rights to. CJ > [@GIGObuster](#): > > Just by memory since I have to go out: > > There was a hamburger or bar place that had the name “Jeep’s” of course, Chrysler corp. took the owner to court. > > The bums at Chrysler lost the case when the mother of the owner produced a picture of him with a sign that had his nickname as a kid years before Chrysler made the Jeep. > > The lawyers then retorted that the owner of the place and Chrysler reached an agreement: Chrysler will not do hamburgers and Mr. Jeep will not make cars! > > As for _McDonass_, 60 minutes reported years ago that there is an inn in England (or Scotland) called McDonalds, that is older than the golden arches and they do serve food too! I would like to see them put a shop in America just to make the super sizers super annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/38 "2005-03-11T23:08:22Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > How about if my name is McDowell? Will you sell your Big Micks under your Golden Arcs? And will your buns have seeds? ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/39 "2005-03-11T23:14:53Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Do I need to paint you a picture? Oh, I agree 200% that the McBratney guy planned this whole thing and is a shit stirrer. I still don’t think McDonalds have any legitimate interests involved. After all, as someone else pointed out, he isn’t making burgers, he’s using an abbreviation of his own name, which isn’t similar to McDonald’s, apart from the first two letters. So, yep, McBratney is playing a game. BUT, McDonalds chose to enter the field and play, too, and for that I reckon they’re McWankers ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006/40 "2005-03-11T23:33:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Actually, McFuckwits have said to McBratney that they won’t try to stop him if he uses his whole name. > > Of course. “McBratney” is too long to fit across the player’s asses, so that’s no use. If he feeds his players nothing but McDonald’s food for thirty days, that problem may solve itself. 😃 'Course, when I first saw the name McBrats, I flashed on the SNL sketches with the Mike Ditka clones on theri cable access show, surrounded by hundreds of pounds of artery-clogging grilled meats. then I thought: "What if McDonald’s wants to introduce bratwurst sandwiches under the name McBrats on a regional basis, for possible expansion to corporate-wide distribution? Would this guy sitting (_HAH!_) on that name impede that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-mcfucked/294006.md?page=3)