McPost

In Quality Inns International, Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., 695 F.Supp.198 (Md. 1988), Quality Inns sought a declaratory judgment that they could name a new chain of hotels "McSleep Inn." McDonald's Corporation argued trademark infringement. Quality Inns raised a generic defense that the prefix "Mc" has derived a singular meaning and become part of the language. Quality Inns offered evidence which reviewed journalistic use of the prefix "Mc" for purposes of deriving its meaning and to evidence its common usage. The court took notice of several examples, including:

"A news report placed into evidence referred to the trial before this court as taking place in the McCourt, which, of course, would make the judge the McJudge. While the Court understood that association with the Courthouse in Baltimore, it oculd not come to grips with the suggestion tha the trial was before a McJudge. The Court could find few, if any, of the attributes of "Mc" used by McDonald's or by the journalists otherwise to fit. Perhaps this McPinion will fulfill that prophecy."

The McCourt went on to hold that the "attribution of source to McDonald's in the use of "Mc" is strong and persists," and rejected "any contention that McDonald's has lost its right to enforce its marks because "Mc" has become a prefix with a single meaning that has become part of the English language and beyond McDonald's control."