skullduggery at the sign of the golden arches ...

this might be sort of "off topic" for PLCs – but some of the concepts involved show up quite regularly on the forum ...

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/mcdonalds-ice-cream-machine-company-restraining-order

McDonald's ice cream machine company is served restraining order: report ... Machine known for making McFlurry dessert ...

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I was originally intrigued with these paraphrased quotes:

The lawsuit alleged that Taylor had "designed flawed code that caused the machines to malfunction" to profit from machine repairs.

Additionally, it claims that Taylor had repeatedly, and under multiple aliases and e-mail addresses, tried to purchase a Kytch Solution Device in order to learn trade secrets.

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the following link to a very detailed and lengthy online article at Wired magazine covers several topics (and their legal implications) that have been discussed on the forum ...

https://www.wired.com/story/they-hacked-mcdonalds-ice-cream-makers-started-cold-war/

They Hacked McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines—and Started a Cold War ...
Secret codes. Legal threats. Betrayal. How one couple built a device to fix McDonald’s notoriously broken soft-serve machines—and how the fast-food giant froze them out.

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anyway – I find this type of thing fascinating – and would have been even more interested in the details before I retired ... the Wired article goes into enough detail about how the machine operates to be somewhat interesting to "automation" type readers ...

stay safe – stay well ...

The double-cross and the reverse engineering make for a great story ! I first heard it in podcast format, excellent if you're commuting:

https://www.sporkful.com/hacking-mcdonalds-broken-ice-cream-machines/

The technical aspects of how Kytch was able to instrument the machines better than Taylor did was very interesting. Too bad it didn't go the other way, with Taylor buying their IP or hiring them to head up the in-house telematics department.

I found the sporkful podcast very interesting. You know you make an inferior product when songs are made about how bad your machine is…

I am always amazed when I see any cars in an Oklahoma McDonald's parking lot when there is a Braum's right across the street. You want for real ice cream? Forget about McD's.

Here's some more viewing for you related to this type of thing:

https://youtu.be/CN1djPMooVY

https://youtu.be/Npd_xDuNi9k