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McDonald's denies attack on tech-specs Canadian

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
McDonald's denies attack on tech-specs Canadian
Photo: Steve Mann

McDonald's France said on Tuesday that employees at one of its Paris restaurants denied a Canadian inventor's claims they assaulted him for wearing a computer vision system.

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In a statement on its Facebook page, the company said it was investigating the claim and "no statement in relation to a physical assault... was uncovered in the testimonies of the people questioned."

Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, blogged on Tuesday that he had suffered a "physical assault" by McDonald's "representatives" while on a visit to Paris with his family earlier this month.

"According to the employees, the exchanges with Mr. Mann were carried out with respect and politeness," McDonald's said, adding the investigation was ongoing.

Mann, who invented and has worn the EyeTap computer vision system -- similar to the Augmented Reality eyepiece being developed by tech giant Google -- for the last 13 years, said he was confronted by three people he believed to be McDonald's workers while eating at a branch on the Champs Elysee.

He said one of the men tried to rip the system from his head and that despite showing them medical and technical documentation on the system, he was ejected from the restaurant.

Mann, who posted photographs of the incident taken with the eyepiece, wrote it was unclear why the men had taken offence.

He said he wanted McDonald's to pay for damage to his eyepiece and to support funding for vision research.

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