Does Tejal contribute on here? Or lurk?
Incompetent journalism: no mention of Chile Colonial.
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Article does not name Chile Colonial, but describes the case and settlement.
I donât see how Chang is being âforcedâ to defend the trademark. If he doesnât, it can fall into common use, but does that actually expose him to any risks?
Itâs not even clear what advantage he gains in trying to monopolize the term chile crunch. The momofuku brand is already distinct. I donât know that the product would stand out any more if everyone else is forced to use âcrisp.â
At this point, maybe heâd gain more by releasing the trademark into the wild and getting some good publicity. The more producers innovating and marketing their âchili crunch,â the bigger the overall market. And as a leading brand, momofuku would stand to be one of the primary beneficiaries of that growth.
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We donât know whether or how much Chang.was involved in this decision. Heâs not the CEO and they have a board and investors to answer to. This is the kind of decision that could have been made on autopilot by the lawyers, who tend to favor choices that let them bill more hours.
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Iâm not defending him, just pointing out that people are hating on him without showing their work.
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Momofuku acquired the âchile crunchâ trademark in a roundabout manner: by way of a six-figure legal settlement âŚ
Would be interesting to know which six figures.
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Sloppy reporting.
While not marketed as chili crisp, Chinaâs Lao Gan Ma is its most well-known predecessor âŚ
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Who knows what the lawyers and accountants would say, but from a public relations perspective it would probably be good for Momofuku to license their trademark to those little vendors who were using it.
Unless Colonial Foods insisted on an exclusive license (she said she had been âgoing brokeâ defending the trademark), in which case they couldnât do that.
Isnât it wild how Fly By Jingâs founder keeps getting quoted in articles without any mention that she applied to trademark âSichuan chili crispâ? Even the NYT omitted this key piece of info.
Highly capitalized brand ($12 million Series B) burnishes its image and gets droves of new customers despite doing the same thing theyâre accusing DC of doing. Thatâs some chess right there
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I guess the investors didnât taste her non-crunchy chili crunch. Press release:
Maybe licensing to them would be a bad idea.
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The south china morning post mentioned her trademark application.
She also addressed the original application and reapplication in her recent substack.
and she herself states sheâs an investor in several other brands selling other styles of chile crisps/crunch.
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From the eater article:
Does the rebrand of Homiah and MĂŹLĂ affect the necessity of Momofuku protecting their trademark? Seems like it might make it more prevalent to act quick, since that could be viewed as those companies finding value in âcrunchâ over âcrisp/yâ
Regardless of ones thoughts concerning the existence or validity of said trademark, since the trademark already exists.
Also is a C&D a smart cover your bases move before offering to license to another company? Or could they have licensed without sending the C&D? Does it look better from a business perspective to have sent one first?
But if she had succeeded (or succeeds) with her trademark, wouldnât she have been obligated to defend hers against other brands as well? For example, suppose one of those companies she invested in came out with their own Sichuan chili crisp. Basically, I find her defense unconvincing.
thats what she doesnât explicitly address. given the tenor of her article, she appears to be coming from rising tide lifts all boats instead of a scarcity mindset. will have to see how this plays out.
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I think Jing is getting bad advice from her lawyers. âChili crispâ canât be trademarked because it has been in common use for years. Lao Gan Ma might have been able to trademark it back in the day.
Does the rebrand of Homiah and MĂŹLĂ affect the necessity of Momofuku protecting their trademark?
Any company using âchili crunchâ or âchile crunchâ is a violation of Momofukuâs trademark.
Sending a C&D is pretty much automatic when you learn of a trademark violation. And itâs more billable hours for the lawyers.
The lawyers on all sides have probably been steering this whole business based on their standard procedures.
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Best reporting so far.
⌠some of the sauce companies have strong financial backing â according to Forbes, Momofuku raised $17.5 million in funding last year with $50 million in sales, MĂŹLĂ recently raised $22.5 million and Fly by Jing raised 12 million last year âŚ
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Yeah sheâs obligated to âpoliceâ her mark and if she doesnât she could lose the rights to the mark.
Itâs disingenuous what sheâs saying unless she actually withdraws her application. If she was granted the mark it would be valuable IP that would increase valuation and make the brand more attractive to investors. Likely she would end up deploying the same strategy that Momofuku was employing.
But I have a hard time believing her mark would be approved based on its descriptiveness but also Iâm not a trademark law expert.
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She said she did abandon it âas of Saturday.â