McDonald's well-known brand has driven the company's 50 years of successful revenue and earnings growth around the globe.
As fast-food sales continue to gain traction in billion-dollar international markets including Brazil, Russia, China and Germany, McDonald's enforces its trademark rights in many serious legal cases. Some cases may seem trivial while others are even laughable. Each challenge, however, poses high-stake consequences for the company's brand-name, image and reputation in the minds of millions of consumers worldwide.
Consider the value of McDonald's logo, the Golden Arches. Any copycat opening a hamburger restaurant using McDonald's colors and the shapes of its trademarked images would surely increase consumer acceptance of its burgers. Trademarks protect a company's colors and shapes, provided that they serve no purpose other than to identify the source of the goods and services. If it can be proven in a court of law that the colors and shapes serve a function - for example if the Golden Arches color became strictly associated with healthy food items with less than 300 calories and no transfat - then that functionality would make the trademark open for challenge by copycats. In the July 28, 2003 edition of The National Law Journal, Jeffrey L. Eichen cites the pink color of Pepto Bismol as a case in point. No trademark is enforceable on Pepto Bismol pink because its color was ruled as soothing to someone with an upset stomach and is therefore functional.
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