Follow-Up: China’s KFC/McDonald’s Rip-Off & Anime Copyright Violations

Remember the Chinese MFC (McDonalds + KFC) fast food restaurant that a Japanese variety program made fun of last week? NTV’s Real Time News went to the Chinese theme park in question to give us a more in depth look at copyright violations and MFC’s business practices:

Main Points:

• Character parades back in May were full of unauthorized copies of Disney characters, but now there are none. However, all around the park there is unauthorized use of Japanese anime characters.
• When asked if the characters in question are from anime, some Chinese customers say they don’t know.
• A fast food restaurant called MFC combines the Chinese characters for McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, crudely combining the menus of both chains.
• Our brave reporter tries a chicken burger and determines it is less tasty than what he could eat at McDonald’s.
• MFC’s homepage states it was started in America during the 1960s. However, when their reporter calls the company they are told it was founded in China 7 years ago.
• There is something that looks like a Beijing Olympics logo on their menu. However, their phone interview finds that MFC is not an official sponsor of the Olympic games.

The best part of the report? MFC’s spokeswoman responds to their questioning with something along the lines of, “We don’t have any stores in Japan, so what’s your problem?”

If you liked this post, you might want to check our previous posts on the fake Disneyland saga:

• Disneyland in China (May 02, 2007)
• Shijingshan Amusement Park: Now Featuring Fake Zebras! (May 11, 2007)
• More Chinese Amusement Parks Copy Disney! (May 14, 2007)
• Fake Disney in Japan (July 09, 2007)