> Couldn't they claim it was copyright infringement?
No, though they could claim trademark infringement (which is an important difference).
Trademarks can (but do not need to be) registered in order to be protected, and an unregistered trademark can trump a registered trademark if it precedes the registered one, if it is in a sufficiently different "category", if it is geographically distinct, or for a number of other reasons. One interesting example is the Burger King in Mattoon, Illinois[0].
The USPTO is very clear to note that registering a trademark is not a guarantee of validity of the trademark, and they do not issue refunds on the application if the trademark is successfully challenged and invalidated later.
In this particular case he'd be less likely to win against McDonald's, especially if all he's doing is domain squatting.... but you never know - take a look at http://www.chaseonline.com .
No, though they could claim trademark infringement (which is an important difference).
Trademarks can (but do not need to be) registered in order to be protected, and an unregistered trademark can trump a registered trademark if it precedes the registered one, if it is in a sufficiently different "category", if it is geographically distinct, or for a number of other reasons. One interesting example is the Burger King in Mattoon, Illinois[0].
The USPTO is very clear to note that registering a trademark is not a guarantee of validity of the trademark, and they do not issue refunds on the application if the trademark is successfully challenged and invalidated later.
In this particular case he'd be less likely to win against McDonald's, especially if all he's doing is domain squatting.... but you never know - take a look at http://www.chaseonline.com .
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_King_%28Mattoon,_Illino...