“Chili crisp” is like mustard or ketchup, it’s a generic term.
No one was using “chile crunch” before Chile Colonial, which is why Hojel was able to trademark it.
I don’t think consumers care.
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It matters in one key way, and in this way Jenn kind of missed the mark:
- chili crunch is trademarked via chile crunch – the owner of chile crunch was able to sue Momofuku to protect their trademark.
- chili crisp is not trademarked and is a generic term
- and the key thing is the USPTO doesn’t care if you or I think chili crunch should be a generic term. I saw Jenn as missing the opportunity to really hold the system to the fire here. her piece was solid, though, for sure and I agree with many of its sentiments but for the fact that Momofuku did legally and rightfully own the trademark and paid for it through lawyers’ fees and the necessary filing fees.
The part that really blows my mind is why did Momofuku grant someone who sued them not just settlement money to purchase the mark [to be expected], but a license into perpetuity while they pick up the tab on policing the trademark? Did this lady have compromising photos of David Chang? How do Momofuku-caliber lawyers end up with a deal that raw? That’s the part where I definitely want to look more closely as it’s really interesting to me. My working theory was that Momofuku didn’t see Hojel as a competitor and wanted to let her keep doing her thing. …but why?
I want to follow up with a distinction between the above and the 90-day compliance period in the C&D (again, this is strange to me but not AS weird as I could see that being a measure to prevent the PR blowback that Momofuku ended up receiving anyway). That lady is a local purveyor with virtually zero PR risk. She could have taken the check, changed the name, walked away happy as countless others will do in these types of settlements. But to keep the name and Momo’s protection is pretty wild
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I feel like we should all receive continuing education credits in the field of trademark law, just from having absorbed this thread (and especially the legal clinic that @foodielawyer is kind enough to put on for us here)!
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I gotta tell ya, I never thought I’d be diving this deep into the world of David Chang all because I read some headline and thought “Wait, what’s the big deal about that?” then poking around social media and saying “Oh Jesus Christ.”
You know I gotta say, the more I look into this guy’s podcast and TV stuff, the more he’s growing on me. I really do have a tinfoil hat theory (that I started to form the past two days as I started digging around on all of this) that he’s trying to get people to try out more independent/small restaurants and support independent restaurants.
Also, today I learned he won $1,000,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire(!) during the peak of the pandemic and it went to a really interesting foundation that supports independent restaurant workers. This seems very at odds with the idea of someone who is a bully toward small businesses, but I also have my suspicions about him so more research in order…
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So are you saying that he’s not the star chef impresario we deserve, but the one we need right now? 
#DC
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I don’t think the world needs more celebrities and especially not celebrity chefs, but as far as they go Chang’s actual content is harmless relative to the amount of backlash he receives. I think it goes without saying he is a lightning rod for criticism and nobody seems to consistently invite more vitriol than he does.
I’ve never heard anyone who previously worked with him say a good thing about him, but they stopped short of accusing him of any violations of labor law or anything of the sort. The general sense I got (and this is from two people, so take it with a grain of salt) is that he’s a hardass and a pain in the ass to work with, with a volcanic temper. So I’m more inclined to believe negative things about him, for sure.
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I think she was just stubborn about wanting to keep the name and that’s why it took a year and a half to negotiate the deal.
This is great. Keep it coming.
Would love to hear your opinion on service fees/junk fees if and when you have the time and inclination. That’s been another topic of discussion on here that could use a legal perspective.
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Bon Appétit interviewed a trademark lawyer.
You can get around the paywall block with a private / incognito browser window.
They missed that Chile Colonial’s legal action against Momofuku pretty solidly established that the trademark on Chile Crunch already covers Chili Crunch as well. Also no mention that it seems like nobody other than Chile Colonial was using “crunch” before Momofuku.
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They got the gist of it
i’m being extremely facetious here, but this seems like the best PR campaign Momofuku’s launched since all the negative press
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I mean the C&D letters worked as PR for me! They hooked me in and now I’m listening to all these damn podcasts and reading about this guy’s life and caring way more than I thought I did! My opinion of him as a person is still not super high but my opinion of him as a creative and a steward of the independent restaurant industry has skyrocketed during this journey.
Still not buying anymore Momofuku chili crunch though.
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I wonder if this is just a bandwagon attack on David Chang. So how long has this been known as chili Crunch as a synonym? Because the original name is known to be chili crisp which seems like that name would be public domain. And no one made a peep when Susan Hojel claimed to have invented the name Crunch back in 2008 and sued Chang for using it before he bought it from her. If she was the first to use the trademark and did indeed invent the name, and no one called it that before 2008, than it’s not trademarking someone’s culture. 2008 was yesterday.
Exactly.
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Wow! Whew!
Did not see that coming. Very happy for the Momofuku team and everyone else who gets to use the mark moving forward. It was a fun and wildly unnecessary journey… now back to my regularly scheduled uneventful life.
Also if anyone knows of a truly great Bacon Egg and Cheese near the East Village, please let me know. It is my favorite chili crisp mobile…
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Sunny and Annie’s add kimchi. Avenue B and 6th.
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Pardon my lack of legal knowledge, but why wouldn’t Momofuku selectively license “Chili/Chile Crunch” at a very nominal fee - say $1.00 per year - to the smaller makers but not to TJs or other large companies?
They would be enforcing the trademark (thus keeping others from claiming it) AND helping smaller AAPI makers/protecting the latter from future problems when the term is trademarked down the road.
Where’s my knowledge gap?
(If this was covered in the podcast, I’m sorry. I haven’t listened to it yet.)
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