Are you of Scottish descent and have a last name that begins with "Mc"? Or are you not of Scottish descent but still have a name that begins with "Mc"? In that case, here is some advice: Don't ever think you can start a business named after your last name!!

The American burger giant McDonald's - that most of you probably are familiar with - is declaring war. Their enemy is a big and bad (?) Scottish woman named Mary Blair. She has started a sandwich bar named "McMunchies" in England. She thought "munchies" was the best way to describe her sandwiches, and the prefix "Mc" was added to show her national background. McDonald's thought this was a severe case of braking their copyright.

But what does Ms Blair think of this? She just wants to know how McDonald's can copyright "Mc" since this means that half of Scotland is breaking McDonald's copyright just by using their surnames... Hopefully Mary wins this one to prevent a whole country to be dominated by an oversized fast-food kitchen! Just think of what would happen to all the people with the suffix "son" in their names if McDonald's would have been called "Donaldsson's"...

Anna mailto:af@magnus.se

Source: TV3 Text, 3 October 96

Translation: Stefan Hamilton , http://www.grace.se/~nhs.mm94.has/stefan

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