Links
David Chang and Momofuku will stop enforcing ‘chile crunch’ trademark
washingtonpost.com
Momofuku had been considering a number of ways to handle the trademark, but ultimately the company decided to simply not enforce it, even if that could result in a larger company trying to pick it up. “The risk to the business is that someone comes and says that we’re not defending it and tries to take the mark. But it’s a risk we’re willing to take,” she said.
Chang likened the trademark to the ring in “Lord of the Rings” — nearly impossible to get rid of. “Once we understood the power of this thing, it was like, we’ve got to get rid of it. This is not for us to use,” he said. “But we can’t give it away and we can’t destroy it.”