McVegan lawsuit? In 1994, McDonald's threatened to sue Vegan Action for trademark infringement over our McVegan shirts. Apparently, they didn't see the humor in our ridiculing them and their business practices of marketing meat and junk food to little children. Instead of backing down, we enlisted pro-bono services from an intellectual property legal firm and developed a defense based on the First Amendment's protection of parody.

Everybody likes a good David versus Goliath story, and a tiny grassroots organization being attacked by a corporate giant clearly qualified. The story was picked up by by The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Examiner, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, the AP and UPI wires, National Public Radio, and four local television networks. The McVegan story even appeared in German and Australian newspapers. It was the first time that many of these outlets ever carried a story on veganism. After two weeks of widespread press, McDonalds backed down and formally withdrew their threat of legal action.