Lucky Meal and the Big Luck in Khartoum, Sudan

Trademark infringement at its finest. When I saw this place, I made my cousin turn the car around so I could take discreet pictures. This might look like a foreign McDonald’s, but it’s not. In fact, this restaurant is called, “Lucky Meal,” with the M, the same as the McDonald’s M. They even have a double-beef patty, three-bun sandwich called the Big Luck. Similarly to how many Americans feel about McDonald’s, my cousins informed me that they never eat at Lucky Meal. Apparently, this sort of trademark infringement is rampant in Sudan. My uncle told me that if you aren’t careful when buying certain products like a cell phone, you could get ripped off. He used the example of Nokia phones. There is a brand sold there called Nokla, with an “L” instead of an “I.” The way they hide it is that they spell Nokla with mostly capital letters, but the L remains lower case. So… NOKlA. I got a huge laugh out of this.