McMansions (was: Boughten bread)

[Dave Wilton]

> Here in the Santa Cruz area there is a vegetarian restaurant called
> "Dharma's".  Originally, some twenty years ago or so, it had been named
> "McDharma's", until Ronald McDonald & Co. took umbrage and sued.
> Being a commercial application, perhaps they had a legally justifiable
> defense of trademark, but not a good sense of humor.

McDonald's would seem to be justified in this one. Both are restaurants (or
McDonald's at least has pretenses at being one). The chief purpose of
trademark law is to distinguish one product from another, so businesses in
the same industry are the most vulnerable to trademark infringement.

The decision in the "McSleep" suit is questionable. AFAIK, McDonald's is not
in the hotel business.

Suing a dictionary for including "McJob" would simply be silly and probably
laughed out of court. Not to say that McDonald's might not try...