Writ Large

by Marcel Berlins

The Guardian;22 October 1996; UK

Press Index

The MacDonald of MacDonald, chief to the name of MacDonald, is getting cross with the fast food giant McDonald's, so much so that he is taking legal advice to see if he can stop them from their enthusiastic protection of their name in Scotland. He told the Scottish legal affairs radio programme Lawful Business that a number of real Mac (or Mc)donald's had told him that they've received letters from the hamburger people warning them against carrying on business under their own names. There are lots of Macdonald's in Scotland, many in catering not least the chief of the clan himself. I look forward to long and fruitful litigation.

There's also a chap called Ronald McDonald who wants to sue McDonald's for using his name clownishly. On the plus side, the McLibel trial, the longest civil trial in British legal history (it started in June 1994), is reaching its end. The final speeches by the two sides are just beginning. After that poor R Justice Bell - what a way your judicial carrer, with two and a half years listening to stuff about hamburgers - will have to take off to make his judgement. But it may all be over in the New Year.





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