McDonald's forces Toronto Korean eatery to change name

TORONTO - A threatened Big Mac attack forced McRamyum’s to cook up a new name to escape a potential legal soup.
The Baldwin Village ramen restaurant changed its name recently after receiving a letter in May from McDonald’s indicating the prefix “Mc” and “Mac” before any food item is owned by the fast-food giant.
But the owners of the noodle house are shying away from the attention, despite already changing the restaurant’s name to Mo’Ramyun.
“We have already complied with all the requirements that McDonald’s asked for, and are hesitant to bring additional attention to this than it already has,” owner Harry Kim said in a statement Tuesday. “We’d really like to put this behind us and prevent any future issues between us and McDonald’s.”

According to a BlogTO report, the “Mc” prefix referred to a Korean word that means “pulse” or “spirit.” McDonald’s, however, wasn’t buying it.

“We became aware of a trademark infringement, and in order to protect our trademarks, we contacted the business owners to resolve the matter,” McDonald’s Canada spokesman Michelle Yao said.

The family had agreed with McDonald’s that Aug. 31 was the last day for any materials shown in public, and Oct. 31 the last day to change the business name registered with the government.

“Mo’Ramyun is one of Canada’s first Korean ramyun noodle specialty restaurants, and we’d much rather prefer a story focused on the food rather than the issue we had with our restaurant name,” Kim said.

In August, a knock-off of a Tim Hortons location in South Korea went viral after a Canadian English teacher came across a batch of “original” Tim Mortons Mocha Gold Coffee Mix. The store logo read “Tim House” and appeared to have similar lettering as the Canadian coffee chain.

Tim Hortons said at the time it would take the “necessary steps” to protect their trademark.

Source Toronto Sun

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