McDonald's Accused of Copyright Infringement by American Writers.

With the launch of the redesign of its restaurants, McDonald’s is seeking, on the one hand, to appeal more and more to a younger audience and, on the other, to defend itself against the indiscriminate creation of satirical graffiti that tarnishes the image of the well-known American company.

In a dramatic case of the boomerang effect, however, the American company has primarily attracted a series of lawsuits alleging copyright infringement from graffiti artists who accuse the fast-food chain of copying their work. The most recent of these was filed in federal court in Los Angeles by Jean Berreau, the former partner of graffiti artist Dash Snow and now the administrator of his estate.

“Nothing could be more at odds with his reputation as an outsider to corporate consumerism—of which McDonald’s and its marketing are the very embodiment,” the complaint states. Snow, who was in fact a descendant of a family of aristocrats and industrialists of French origin.

This isn’t the first time the new decorations have been accused of copyright infringement: on March 25, another graffiti artist, Norm, sued the company, accusing it of replicating one of his famous pieces created in Brooklyn on Bartlett Street (“Norm on the Bartlett Fire Escape”). Unlike Snow, Norm is not opposed to the commercial use of his work and has often collaborated with major brands. In the complaint, however, he states that McDonald’s “knowingly decided to cover the walls of its restaurants around the world with Norm’s name, his art, signature, and trademark” and has “installed and continues to install, without permission, unauthorized copies, photos, and/or depictions of the work as wall coverings in dozens of restaurants in Europe and Asia.” Less than a month later, the graffiti artist, who works primarily in Los Angeles, dropped the lawsuit, declining to comment on the matter: it is unknown whether he reached any kind of agreement with the chain.