Sunday, May 13, 2007

You must read this!

Please answer this little test: 1. When you discovered this photo, did you immediately think of McDonald's? 2. How long did it take you to realise you were wrong?

The sign belongs to an Indian restaurant called Anisha's, located in Avoca, a beautiful beach north of Sydney. When it opened a few years ago, the owner was immediately sued by McDonald's for copying their logo. Well, this is a real David against Goliath story - Anisha's WON! The restauranteur successfully argued :
- that the name Anisha's didn't in any way resemble McD's
- that his was an Indian restaurant, not a take-away therefore confusion was impossible
- that his logo has one arch only, not two, and that red and gold, two very popular colours in India, were culturally justified.
He kept the name and the sign, and he is now opening a second restaurant in Terrigal, a few kilometres away. This revenge on the super-size giant delights me.
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Dites-moi : 1. Quand la photo s'est ouverte, avez-vous immédiatement pensé à MacDo ?
2. combien de temps avez-vous mis à réaliser que ce n'était pas le cas ?
C'est l'enseigne d'un restaurant indien nommé
Anisha's situé à Avoca, une plage du nord de Sydney. Quand il a ouvert il y a environ 3 ans, Mac Do a porté plainte pour copie de logo. Eh bien c'est une fabuleuse histoire de David contre Goliath, Mac Do a PERDU son procès !
Le restaurateur a démontré avec succès que :
- le nom Anisha's n'avait vraiment rien de commun avec McDonald's
- il servait de la cuisine indienne, pas des hamburgers, donc aucune confusion possible
- son logo ne comporte qu'une arche, pas deux, et les couleurs or et rouge, très populaires en Inde, sont culturellement justifiées.
Il a gardé son enseigne, son restaurant marche très bien et il est sur le point d'en ouvrir un deuxième à Terrigal, à quelques kilomètres de là. Cette histoire me réjouit fort !

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

bien joué ! car je n'ai pas vu Mc Do mais j'ai vu l'intention de copie immédiatement! Mais qui sont ils tous pour confisquer les noms, les images et tout ce que le monde a créé sans eux! Même nos gènes vont y passer

photowannabe said...

I have to admit I thought of McD. at first. Great David and Goliath story.

Ming the Merciless said...

Yes, I did immediately think of McDonald's but it is obviously different. Glad the little guy won.

Ming the Merciless said...

It's the color, the font and the material.

Steve Cuddihy said...

now that is an interesting story.

Jilly said...

Gosh, yes I fell for it. Thought it was McDonalds and assumed you might be writing something about the good fresh food available in Sydney comparing it to a McDonald's hamburger - so I decided to read what you'd written. How wrong I was.

Very interesting. Good to know someone beat that outfit.

hpy said...

J'ai vu double ce matin, mais pas longtemps.

Anonymous said...

Je n'ai pas pensé à McDo mais je me suis dit qu'ils s'en étaient inspirés pour faire ce logo...
Au niveau juridique je ne sais pas, mais à mon avis, la ressemblance (mais pas la copie) saute clairement aux yeux !

Anonymous said...

I like it, because despite the justifications, they obviously did purloin the branding. However the judge ruled for them. There is hope yet!

Peter said...

Yes, I thought Mc Do for a second or two...

Good that David could beat Goliath, although I have some doubt concerning the good faith of David in this case.

Anonymous said...

Yes the Golden Arches. I thought so but thought you did a trick with PhotoShop. Ha ha. Nice photo. And the narrative is super. I am so glad they got to keep their logo and sign.

I have celebrated this day, Mother's Day in my country, with a magazine cover for my wife. I hope you can see it.

Pod said...

go anisha! way to go. that is very smart
;0)

M.Benaut said...

Anisha has guts.

"No guts, - No glory"

Martel said...

surprising, especially that mcdo is lost.

my blog photographs on Martel

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

1. to McDonald's
2. when I enlarged it.

Sorry but I don't agree with these kind of commercial strategies. I find them quite poor of fantasy. They won't ever have me as their client.

Cergie said...

En tout cas c'est une belle photo elle serait encore plus belle sans l'enseigne car le ciel et le feuillage sont très légers et agréables.
Le rouge fait tâche. Mais c'est le but : se voir de loin !
Il y a tant d'enseignes usant du rouge, le rapport ave qui tu dis ne m'a pas sauté aux yeux...

Bill said...

My first thought was yes, but it could not be.... :)

Unknown said...

me too! i tot it was Macs.
initially i tot the leaves covered it, until I look carefully. hehe...

Maxime said...

1= oui
2= jusqu'à ce que je lise la suite.
3 = je n'ai jamais mangé dans un Mac (par principe, mais surtout par goût). Par contre, Anisha's je serais prêt à essayer, à condition qu'ils fassent preuve d'un peu plus de créativité dans leur menu que dans l'enseigne. J'ai parfois l'impression que le libéralisme tend à tout écraser vers le BAS.

~tanty~ said...

Interesting story and nice photo.

Anonymous said...

first glance, i was fooled but then a quick question in my mind that Nathalie wont be showing something that is so common among us ;) then i realised its a fake (all this from thumbnail :D)

Unknown said...

Good on him. I hate Mcdonalds & what they stand for. The branch where I live has closed down after being there 20 years. No one's crying.

Z said...

I thought of McD as well. Did he/they have to make the arch such a copy? I would actually avoid going there, so for me, it would have been better if they had gone for a different logo. But, his restaurant is obviously popular, so I'm in the minority.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to all for your comments. My own opinion on this is close to that expressed by several of you (Maxime for ex):

I never eat at McD because I don't like that sort of food. I would be prepared to try Anisha's however - provided they are more creative and honest in their cuisine than in their advertising, because admit to it or not the intention to copy is obvious.

Deb said...

Applause, Applause, Applause!!!

Lavenderlady said...

Yes...as I scrolled down I thought MickyD's...how nice to find that some one won!

Gaëlle said...

C'est génial!

pusa said...

wow! it sure looks a bit like mcdo but thank goodness they were able to retain the signage.

Anonymous said...

They may have kept the signs but they also kept our money........bouncing cheques is their latest endeavour.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Now James, that's a bit of a worry!
I won't be recommending them, then.

Anonymous said...

Dont worry about recommendations Nathalie...they have gone under and the ex owner is catching his second Wind -in the Willows !!