FollowI found the story in the New York Times article “‘McSleep’ Loses to Big Mc” to be both comical and fascinating. It’s comical in that “McSleep Inns” sounds silly, mostly because the name does indeed call to mind McDonald’s and its many connotations. Also, if the CEO of the hotel chain would not want the “lodging product to be confused with some hamburger chain”—and if he believes that the prefix “Mc” could ever cause that confusion—then why did the company file suit against McDonald’s for the right to use the name?
More importantly, however—here is the part I find fascinating—this lawsuit raises important questions about copyright infringement. If a combination of a mere two letters can belong exclusively to one company or corporation, where is the line drawn? Does Apple own the rights to the letter “i”? Or does copyright infringement exist only when “i” is used before another word by someone other than Apple?
It sounds like the issue of copyright infringement, when it comes to a well-recognized portion of a product or company name, can only be decided subjectively. It seems obvious that Apple should not own the letter “i,” but neither should McDonald’s own “mc,” by that logic. I haven’t done extra research on the topic, but based on the article, the judge apparently has the final decision on whether a letter or combination of letters is associated to a product or company strongly enough to constitute copyright infringement. This is where law gets troublesome, where there’s no finite right and wrong.
