Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 17
1 position, that whenever they talk about McDonald's they
2 talk about the whole chain which is governed by the
3 operations manual and McDonald's supervisory system.
4
5 In the original pleadings - which no doubt I cannot find
6 - we did ask.... I could refer to them now. Maybe you do
7 not have them with you at the moment, I do not know. We
8 did ask in the further and better particulars, McDonald's
9 replied, further and better particulars of the Statement of
10 Claim, pursuant to request served 16th November 1990, we
11 asked --
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was the date?
14
15 MR. MORRIS: It was pursuant to a request served 16th November
16 1990. We asked: Of the first plaintiff is the proprietor
17 of the well-known McDonald's restaurant chain.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Pause a moment there.
20
21 MR. MORRIS: This will not be in the abstract.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What number is the request?
24
25 MR. MORRIS: It is in their further and better particulars. It
26 is the first one, request 1.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I have that.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: Proprietor of the well-known McDonald's Restaurant
31 chain McDonald's restaurant chain - and I emphasise the
32 word "chain" - in the United States of America and
33 throughout - and I emphasise the word "throughout" - the
34 rest of the world. Request 1: "State whether it is the
35 plaintiffs' case that the first plaintiff owns all
36 restaurants worldwide trading under the name McDonald's".
37 "If not, identify the relationship between the first
38 plaintiff and every such restaurant." And 3: Further,
39 explain what is meant by the term proprietor, basically.
40
41 And the answers are: 2, I suppose, is the most important
42 one. Ownership of the said restaurants fall within three
43 different groups: Subsidiaries of the first plaintiff,
44 franchisees of the first plaintiff, and joint ventures
45 owned by the first plaintiff and a partner. So the first
46 plaintiff has an interest in every single McDonald's
47 restaurant in the world.
48
49 And the dictionary definition of the word "proprietor",
50 according to the Chambers English Dictionary, is "an
51 owner". So, so far as we are concerned, and so far as the
52 public is concerned, so far as 99 percent of the witness
53 evidence is concerned, the word McDonald's applies to all
54 McDonald's stores worldwide, and that is what we have been
55 talking about in this case.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. Let us take a five
58 minute break here.
59
60 One thing I would like you to focus on, because it is
