3 ms·

he’s also reportedly a jerk to his staff and yells at them. and sues mom and pop shops for using his trademark of a really generic term... something like spicy

he’s also reportedly a jerk to his staff and yells at them. and sues mom and pop shops for using his trademark of a really generic term... something like spicy chili oil or very similar.

jsbg 2y ago
In the US, trademarks have to be enforced to remain valid. https://www.justia.com/intellectual-property/trademarks/enforcement/ https://www.justia.com/intellectual-property/trademarks/enfo... "a failure to enforce a trademark by monitoring the mark for misuses will result in a weakening of the mark and loss of distinctiveness, which can lead to a loss of the trademark"
- addicted 2y ago
  It’s annoying. Every time a company does basic enforcement they are required to by law to maintain their trademark, they get bonded and we go through the same cycle of outrage with the sensible people explaining that trademarks aren’t like patents and if someone is going around using your trademark, you will lose it. Then the outrage dies down only to have the cycle repeated a few weeks later.
  - dghlsakjg 2y ago
    He trademarked “chili crunch” which is just what that food is called. It’s like trying to trademark “breakfast cereal” or “hot sauce”. If it had gone to court he would have lost eventually since other people had been using that name earlier for the same product, and it was too broad
- dghlsakjg 2y ago
  The problem is that the trademark was too generic (chili crunch, to be exact) and he was going after brands that sold a product that had always been known as that or crunchy chili oil, or chili crunch oil. He didn’t invent the food, and started going after small brands and people that had been selling it since before he had tried registering the trademark. He did eventually back down.
- weaksauce 2y ago
  yeah i fully understand that but his trademark was way too generic in the first place. used for a long time before that. i have the same issue with backcountry dot com over the widely used term backcountry before they named themselves backcountry... it’s scummy.

he’s also reportedly a jerk to his staff and yells at them. and sues mom and pop shops for using his trademark of a really generic term... something like spicy chili oil or very similar.

jsbg 2y ago

In the US, trademarks have to be enforced to remain valid. https://www.justia.com/intellectual-property/trademarks/enforcement/ https://www.justia.com/intellectual-property/trademarks/enfo... "a failure to enforce a trademark by monitoring the mark for misuses will result in a weakening of the mark and loss of distinctiveness, which can lead to a loss of the trademark"

addicted 2y ago
It’s annoying. Every time a company does basic enforcement they are required to by law to maintain their trademark, they get bonded and we go through the same cycle of outrage with the sensible people explaining that trademarks aren’t like patents and if someone is going around using your trademark, you will lose it. Then the outrage dies down only to have the cycle repeated a few weeks later.
- dghlsakjg 2y ago
  He trademarked “chili crunch” which is just what that food is called. It’s like trying to trademark “breakfast cereal” or “hot sauce”. If it had gone to court he would have lost eventually since other people had been using that name earlier for the same product, and it was too broad
dghlsakjg 2y ago
The problem is that the trademark was too generic (chili crunch, to be exact) and he was going after brands that sold a product that had always been known as that or crunchy chili oil, or chili crunch oil. He didn’t invent the food, and started going after small brands and people that had been selling it since before he had tried registering the trademark. He did eventually back down.
weaksauce 2y ago
yeah i fully understand that but his trademark was way too generic in the first place. used for a long time before that. i have the same issue with backcountry dot com over the widely used term backcountry before they named themselves backcountry... it’s scummy.