Nukudonarudo v McDonalds

[craftsman]

There was a whopper of a battle between a sex service in Chiba and hamburger behemoth McDonald's that left the call girl business far from lovin' it.

The sex service called itself Nukudonarudo, a play on words taken from nukeru, slang Japanese for ejaculation, and Makudonarudo, the local pronunciation of McDonald's.

"We thought it'd be better to have a name with impact. It came about by coincidence because there was a McDonald's restaurant in front of us at the time we were meeting to discuss the service name," the operator of Nukudonarudo tells Shukan Gendai. "In this business, it's better to create a bit of a stir, so we didn't mind if they sued us."

Nukudonarudo also copied McDonald's menus to label its sex services. While the restaurant has a standard 0 yen charge for a smile, Nukudonarudo informed its customers they were entitled to a "sexy groan for 0 yen."

McDonald's was none too pleased to see itself associated with a call girl service.

"We confirmed in July that the name belonged to a sex service. We don't want our customers to consider the possibility that our company is associated with that business and their name hurts the brand we have worked very hard to establish," a member of McDonald's communications division tells Shukan Gendai. "We informed the company that its name breached the fair trade practices law and demanded it be changed."

Threatened with a massive lawsuit from a huge multinational, Nukudonarudo's owner lost his cojones.

"My lawyer told me that McDonald's in the United States had led the complaints against us and that compensation in a lawsuit could run into the hundreds of millions of yen. Considering we also called one of our services a 'Super Value Set,' I figured a court case probably wasn't the best idea," the owner tells Shukan Gendai. "We had no choice, so have recently changed the name. Now, we're gonna call ourselves 'Nukutteria' (after "nukeru" and Korean fast food chain Lotteria)." (By Ryann Connell)

November 7, 2006

Have McDonald's over stepped the mark again? Surely a 'sexy groan for 0 yen' is a public service. And would this not be a better use of the McDonald's menu rather than offering garbage repackaged as food?

[Mikawa Ossan]

I think their biggest mistake was openning across the street from McD's!

[Glenn]

Aside from the crap that is McDonald's food, I think they win this one. I mean it seems to me to be an obvious case of Trademark infringement (don't know if that's the proper legal term).

[japantvhost]

This is a funny story! Only you find this kind of story in Japan.

[nurizeko]

I'm a wierd type of person who doesnt like associating food with the carnal act of intercourse, so I reckon they could do better then ripping off resturaunt names.

Interesting article.

[Kinsao]

I think McD is actually pushing it on this one, considering "Makudonarudo" isn't even how "McDonald's" is actually spelled - or pronounced - in its "native language".

I thought the sex company's idea was quite funny. Although McD's isn't the kind of food I particularly like to associate with sex.... o_o

[craftsman]

nurizeko, I dunno. Greasy hamburgers aside, I always thought sex and food were both part of the same sensual continuum. You mean you just use a normal plate to eat your sashimi slices off? Now that would be weird. I insist on a nude beauty prostrate on the table every time.


http://www.sushitarian.dk/img/body_sushi_pic_01.jpg

[Sparky]

McDonalds is a name
like Mcstevens, McBride, McScott
In business as long as the spelling is different there is no infringment. If your going to get fussy about pronunciation or somthing that sounds similar to another, then the entire Japanese Music industry would fall since almost all Japanese songs use music from other countries with there own twist.

Nukudonarudo Wins Based on the basic laws of business. Poor MacDonadlds mabye they need a new adult character. Hell they allow smoking in all there resturants why not! Its like a bar in there some nights anyway! Full of drunken sleeping college kids!

[Duo 9]

... or McGuyver, McGuire, McPhee, McGee, Mc...

[taeter_tot]

McGovern ... McHenry ... McKinley ...

[craftsman]

...McTavish....Mcintosh...


... hold on a sec. What's with the listing of Mc names? Is there some deeper meaning apart from..well...listing Mc names?

[Sparky]

This thread is still going?

[Kaiomoto]

Baka-Boyz (°_°´)

hehe,

McBride, McCloud etc.....

Konbanwa,

NariHiro

[Kimochi]

I've read other cases where businesses try to gain leverage using the McDonald's M symbol. Their trademark does have an impression on the world, I mean who doesn't know what is the macdonald's trademark, or even its slogan? I seriously doubt that they are concerned with the negative effects on the sleazy business.

The fact is, why do you patent a trademark? Largely, it's because they identified the value of their established brand name.

Having patented it, you have the rights to sue the offenders silly.

Hey, you can get legal compensations equivalent to selling tonnes of crap food just by sueing. So why not? That's easy money! >.<

[Anohito]

I'm a wierd type of person who doesnt like associating food with the carnal act of intercourse, so I reckon they could do better then ripping off resturaunt names.
Interesting article.

It doesn't actually involve intercourse, but there is a highly erotic scene in the movie Tampopo (which I think is a great movie) that also involves food. Here is a quote from a viewer comment on IMDB:

There's other characters that are returned to periodically, like this white-suited gangster and his moll. Their scenes are erotically charged and quite striking. It was funny but at the same time it just grabbed me attention wise. There's a moment where they pass a raw egg yolk back and forth through each others mouths without rupturing it. It's done slowly and erotically, the two lovers obviously enjoying this really weird thing we're seeing. I have to say I've never really seen anything like that in a movie.

The main IMDB page for the movie is at:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092048/