Can McDonalds REALLY copyright the word BURGER? Come on.

haffajappa

Just another reason why the corporate circus that is the Olympics is starting to aggravate me even more:

http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2529371

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VANCOUVER -- The chef at a First Nations food pavilion at the Winter Olympics says he had to rewrite his menu to purge the word "burger," after the McDonald's chain -- an Olympics sponsor -- objected.

Chef Andrew George, who created the menu for the Four Host First Nations' pavilion, said organizers had to rewrite one of the menu items -- a trio of bison burgers -- after a complaint from the Golden Arches.

"McDonald's is a big corporate sponsor at the Olympics and it turns out they were really touchy about us calling any food ‘burgers,'" says Mr. George, who has published a cookbook and is working on a TV show.

"So we're serving these three little bison patties that now we're calling sliders, or bannockwiches, with sauteed wild mushrooms and Saltspring Island goat cheese between bannock rounds."

There may be little similarity between the native chefs' bison sandwiches and a McDonald's quarter-pounder with cheese, but the Four Host First Nations chefs aren't picking a fight with the corporate food giant.

This is "the first time in history that indigenous peoples have been recognized by the IOC as official partners in the hosting of a Games," says the FHFN statement.

The Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, who share the traditional territory on which the Olympics are being held, entered a protocol agreement in 2004 to abide by all Olympic rules.

"McDonald's hasn't been in contact with the Four Host First Nations regarding this. Contact VANOC directly to discuss sponsorship," said McDonald's spokesman Chris Stannell.

VANOC's Bill Cooper, head of commercial rights management, said "there are a number of guidelines ... at all designated 2010 Games celebration sites, of which the FHFN pavilion is one."

Mr. Cooper noted that may include forbidding "certain brands or words that create special associations with our sponsors and their products."

That reflects sponsors' "significant commitment and investment," said Mr. Cooper.

Mr. George's 25 years as a trained chef, including stints with a top-flight European hotel chain, as well as his love of traditional native food lore, have made him ready for the world stage at the 2010 Olympics.

MR. George cooked at Expo 86, where aboriginal cuisine was a huge hit, and he went on to teach and excel at the 1992 German "culinary Olympics."

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html? ... z0fBrG6bj9
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youngster

While I agree McD's might be the biggest fast food chain in the world, burgers have been around a lot longer than they have. Are they going to copyright the word chicken next because they sell a couple of chicken sandwiches?

On another note, I'm not sure you would even call McDonalds burgers "burgers". They are pretty pathetic and not that great tasting compared to many other restaurants.

haffajappa

Yah, that's the whole point. They didn't invent it.. they didn't even make them bigger or better. If anything they made them worse!

Like I said on my facebook status, I'll start to wonder when will Samsung copyright the word PHONE and every telephone in the city will have to be called numerated talking machine... Or Coke with ice cubes. So stupid!!

mickeyrat

White Castle may object to the term "Slider". Granted , not a sponser but .......

norm

has mcdonalds copyrighted 'volcanic diarrhea' too? type 2 diabetes?

81

what a joke....

aspoonfulweighsaton

I hate McDonald's as much as the next person, but nowhere does that article mention that they are trying to copyright the word (since they're not). This is strictly an Olympics issue due to them paying an ungodly amount as a sponsor and not wanting anyone to think they can get a burger anywhere else. If they were truly being vigilant about this we would have heard about it before now, probably from their main competitor, BURGER King.

I mean it's still stupid, but keep things in perspective.

Newch91

McDonalds makes me take a shit everytime I eat there.

haffajappa

aspoonfulweighsaton wrote:

I hate McDonald's as much as the next person, but nowhere does that article mention that they are trying to copyright the word (since they're not). This is strictly an Olympics issue due to them paying an ungodly amount as a sponsor and not wanting anyone to think they can get a burger anywhere else. If they were truly being vigilant about this we would have heard about it before now, probably from their main competitor, BURGER King.

I mean it's still stupid, but keep things in perspective.

Ok they didn't copyright the word but they objected to it being used.

Almost as if VANOC wouldn't let you use the words Vancouver or 2010

oh wait........................

i_lov_it

McDonalds = "PUKE"...

Franny

For fucks sake.....McD's should get off thier high friggin horses....they don't OWN any right to the name burger, they didn't invent the burger, and they aren't the only damned company in the world to make burgers. Hell the burger dude they have targeted should get one of the aussie boxing kangaroo and aboriginal flags to stuff on top of burgers just to piss the dickheads in thier prissy little suits right the fark off.
Phew.....and McD's sux anyway...the only good thing there is frozen coke..at least they can't try and fuck with that!

Byrnzie

McDonalds are shit. But they're still better than KFC. The Chinese love KFC. They're really popular here. I hate KFC though. If you look inside the burgers you find bit's of jellied gristle or something, and if you peel the batter off the chicken you'll see bubbles of greasy fat. Truly disgusting.

I prefer McDonalds only because they do a better breakfast than the other chains. Though I try to avoid eating at any of these places.

pjfan31

People are lucky these games aren't in cuba or else Coke would be up in arms.

Newch91

I like Friendly's, Wendy's, and a place called Duchess. A lot better than McDonalds (yes I know Friendly's is a restaurant and shouldn't go on here, but to me, it's really good and better than McDonalds).

Byrnzie

Newch91 wrote:

I like Friendly's, Wendy's, and a place called Duchess. A lot better than McDonalds (yes I know Friendly's is a restaurant and shouldn't go on here, but to me, it's really good and better than McDonalds).

I remember eating at a place called 'Ryans' in Florida. It was a buffet type place. Absolutely great value. You could eat as much as you wanted. There are also lot's of really good Mexican restaurants - including drive-thru's - in America, so It makes me wonder why anyone bothers eating McDonalds.

rival.

burger king kicks mcdonald's ass.

they truly are the burger king.

Kel Varnsen

I can sort of see both sides of this. I mean yes Mcdonalds food is pretty bad, even in comparion to other fast food outlets. And the description of those bison burgers sounds really awesome and makes me hungry. But at the same time McD's probably spent a shit ton of money to get the rights to be the official food supplier for all Olympic venues. The obviously expect some sort of return on their investment, and would probably be pretty pissed off if after spending all that cash, the Olympics was allowing someone else to grab some of the cash they thought was theirs.

polaris_x

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I can sort of see both sides of this. I mean yes Mcdonalds food is pretty bad, even in comparion to other fast food outlets. And the description of those bison burgers sounds really awesome and makes me hungry. But at the same time McD's probably spent a shit ton of money to get the rights to be the official food supplier for all Olympic venues. The obviously expect some sort of return on their investment, and would probably be pretty pissed off if after spending all that cash, the Olympics was allowing someone else to grab some of the cash they thought was theirs.

they aren't official food suppliers ... they are just a corporate sponsor ... can you imagine all these Athletes training all their lives avoiding shitty food like mcd's and then they get to the olympics and they actually have to eat it??

this has nothing to do with getting a return on investment ... it has everything to do with the fact the olympics is a corporate whorefest ... all the coporations have more power than the local gov'ts now ...

on another note - i love how they keep referring to each games as the "greenest" ever ... they put brand new LCD's and DVD players in the rooms, lots of volunteers are getting new temporary cell phones, everything is brand spanking new ... what a load of crock ...

having said that - i hope canada wins gold in hockey! ...

blackredyellow

polaris_x wrote:

Kel Varnsen wrote:

I can sort of see both sides of this. I mean yes Mcdonalds food is pretty bad, even in comparion to other fast food outlets. And the description of those bison burgers sounds really awesome and makes me hungry. But at the same time McD's probably spent a shit ton of money to get the rights to be the official food supplier for all Olympic venues. The obviously expect some sort of return on their investment, and would probably be pretty pissed off if after spending all that cash, the Olympics was allowing someone else to grab some of the cash they thought was theirs.

they aren't official food suppliers ... they are just a corporate sponsor ... can you imagine all these Athletes training all their lives avoiding shitty food like mcd's and then they get to the olympics and they actually have to eat it??

Not an official food supplier, but as a huge corporate sponsor, I'm sure they have protection from competition ( as silly as that sounds in this case)... I'm guessing that these vendors can't sell Pepsi products or a local soft drink with Coke being such a huge sponsor.

polaris_x

blackredyellow wrote:

Not an official food supplier, but as a huge corporate sponsor, I'm sure they have protection from competition ( as silly as that sounds in this case)... I'm guessing that these vendors can't sell Pepsi products or a local soft drink with Coke being such a huge sponsor.

dude ... the chef has every right to cook the meal he is cooking and for who he's cooking for ... he's had to change the naming on the menu because mcdicks doesn't want anyone putting "burger" on the menu ... it's still the same food - he just had to call it something else ... how is this remotely justifiable?

Kel Varnsen

polaris_x wrote:

this has nothing to do with getting a return on investment ... it has everything to do with the fact the olympics is a corporate whorefest ... all the coporations have more power than the local gov'ts now ...

Of course the Olympics is a corporate whorefest. When has it not been a corporate whorefest. I mean people always complain every Olympics about how they are too corporate, but they have been that way at least as long as I can remember. Plus the olympics costs a ton of money to put, and you can't just do it with goodwill and happy thoughts, you need cash, lots of cash.