19:10 • 12 Oct 2008
Notes & Quotes
The Clan Bites Back
In September 1996, Ronald McDonald, a 61-year-old retired history teacher from Westhill in Aberdeen, threatened burger giant McDonald’s with legal action for pinching his name. ‘Frankly, I always feel a bit annoyed that my name is the same as a clown, especially when I read of this action by the company,’ he announced. ‘As far as I’m concerned they have stolen my name and my father’s name for commercial purposes. To me it’s an attack on the Scottish clan system. They have no right to claim the prefix Mc or Mac as theirs.’ Mr McDonald wrote to the company’s managing director to tell him: ‘The prefix Mc and the name McDonald has been used in Scotland and spread worldwide many centuries before your firm was ever in existence.’ He also enclosed a Doric poem.
The catalyst for McDonald’s intervention was the burger company’s threat to sue a small Buckinghamshire corner shop called McMunchies. But a spokesman claimed that he had misunderstood what they were doing. ‘It’s got nothing to do with the Mc prefix, other than in a food service context. We believe Ms Blair, the owner, is certainly seeking to confuse customers into thinking that there may be some association with McDonald’s, particularly with our unique stylised writing, and we hope she will remove the Mc prefix from her shop. Of course the Mc isn’t copyright when it’s a family name, or a shoe shop or whatever.’ Faced with the financial might of the restaurant chain, Mary Blair appears to have backed down.
Interestingly, Mr McDonald is known to his friends as ‘Big Mac’.
In September 1996, Ronald McDonald, a 61-year-old retired history teacher from Westhill in Aberdeen, threatened burger giant McDonald’s with legal action for pinching his name. ‘Frankly, I always feel a bit annoyed that my name is the same as a clown, especially when I read of this action by the company,’ he announced. ‘As far as I’m concerned they have stolen my name and my father’s name for commercial purposes. To me it’s an attack on the Scottish clan system. They have no right to claim the prefix Mc or Mac as theirs.’ Mr McDonald wrote to the company’s managing director to tell him: ‘The prefix Mc and the name McDonald has been used in Scotland and spread worldwide many centuries before your firm was ever in existence.’ He also enclosed a Doric poem.
The catalyst for McDonald’s intervention was the burger company’s threat to sue a small Buckinghamshire corner shop called McMunchies. But a spokesman claimed that he had misunderstood what they were doing. ‘It’s got nothing to do with the Mc prefix, other than in a food service context. We believe Ms Blair, the owner, is certainly seeking to confuse customers into thinking that there may be some association with McDonald’s, particularly with our unique stylised writing, and we hope she will remove the Mc prefix from her shop. Of course the Mc isn’t copyright when it’s a family name, or a shoe shop or whatever.’ Faced with the financial might of the restaurant chain, Mary Blair appears to have backed down.
Interestingly, Mr McDonald is known to his friends as ‘Big Mac’.