McDonald’s is facing a $900m lawsuit in the US over its ice cream machines

For everyone who has heard, “sorry the ice cream machine isn’t working”. This US lawsuit is for you.

A US tech company is taking up the fight for anyone who has gone to Macca’s in hope of ice cream but has been told “the machine isn’t working” in a $US900 million lawsuit.

The creators of a gadget that helped fix McDonald’s chronically broken-down ice cream machines in America are suing the fast-food giant for dereliction of duty, claiming the chain is known for the fault.

However, McDonald’s has labelled the lawsuit “meritless”.

McDonald's doesn’t seem worried about the lawsuit taking aim at its ice cream machines.

Jeremy O’Sullivan and his partner Melissa Nelson created mobile-phone sized device, called Kytch, that can be planted inside the machines that make McFlurry’s, milkshakes and ice cream cones.

It works by intercepting the machine’s internal communications and sending information to a smartphone or web interface where owners can troubleshoot the problem when the machine breaks down.

Court documents filed in the US District Court in Delaware showed that the device had become popular among franchisees in the United States.

In the opening address of the lawsuit, the complainant, Kytch, included a tweet by the fast-food giant, which showed it was aware of its ice cream machine’s reputation.

“McDonald’s is best known for its world-famous burgers, fries, and broken ice cream machines,” it said before including an image of the following tweet.

we have a joke about our soft serve machine but we're worried it won't work

— McDonald's (@McDonalds) August 11, 2020

Issues arose when Mcdonald’s intervened telling franchise owners that the device violated warranties of the ice cream machine while also posing a risk of “serious human injury”.

The machines are made by a company called Taylor and can be bought for about $18,000 USD. Taylor Company’s website says its products include soft-serve ice cream, frozen yoghurt, milkshakes, smoothies and slushies,

The lawsuit has generated plenty of conversation in the US, with McDonald‘s telling Newsweek the claims are “meritless”.

In November 2020, McDonald’s told its franchisees not to use Kytch devices — halting the start-up’s fast-growing sales.

Kytch sued Taylor last year after Taylor allegedly obtained one of Kytch’s devices and reverse-engineered it to create its own internet-connected monitoring product.

“This is a case about corporate espionage and the extreme steps one manufacturer has taken to conceal and protect a multimillion-dollar repair racket,” attorneys for Kytch wrote in the complaint in California Superior Court in Alameda County.