Sriracha CEO on why he chose not to trademark the brand

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150212/07144630001/sriracha-boss-trademark-mmmmm-no-thanks.shtml

by fredley • 11 years ago

62 41 11 years ago

techdirt.com

pcthrowaway• 11 years ago

Sriracha is a type of sauce named after the coastal city of Si Racha in eastern Thailand [1] originating in the 1930s.

Did the author of this article not bother doing a Wikipedia search on the subject of their article?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce

matthewmcg• 11 years ago

Right--there's actually a principle in U.S. trademark law[1] that can prevent registration of a trademark if it has a generic meaning in a foreign language.

As one court[2] explained: "Because of the diversity of the population of the United States, coupled with temporary visitors, all of whom are part of the United States marketplace, commerce in the United States utilizes innumerable foreign languages. No merchant may obtain the exclusive right over a trademark designation if that exclusivity would prevent competitors from designating a product as what it is in the foreign language their customers know best."

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_foreign_equivalents

[2] http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1211778.html

jasonlotito• 11 years ago

You guys both just needed to read the article: "USPTO has already issued several decisions stating that the single word "sriracha" on its own is now too generic for any of these pretenders to trademark for themselves."

tlrobinson2• 11 years ago

But is Sriracha actually a type of sauce in Thailand, or is it just the name of a city? If it's the latter I don't think this would apply.

krallja• 11 years ago

How does Tabasco Sauce get away with it, given that it's made from tabasco peppers (named after the Mexican state of Tabasco)?

tertius• 11 years ago

No, the writer wants hits to the story. That's how he gets paid.

shittyanalogy• 11 years ago

Huy Fong Foods is the brand, sriracha is the product. It's because he likes the fact that he created a new condiment and is satisfied with his current wealth and business size.

hawleyal• 11 years ago

Sriracha is the product brand (e.g. Mountain Dew). Huy Fong Foods is the manufacturer brand (e.g. Pepsico). But like kleenex and saran wrap, it has become a generic term. Sriracha is a proper noun, but is slowly becoming a common noun.

spike021• 11 years ago

It's gotten to the point where there are numerous competitors, some of whom produce bottles that look exactly the same except for two things: a yellow cap instead of green and a slightly different label/print of the logo and other information.

9point6• 11 years ago

"And he can't be bothered to give any shits about trademarking it today because he's too busy raking in roughly all the money."

What a car-crash of a sentence.

Borogravia• 11 years ago

Strongly disagree. Inelegant, but effective.

jonnathanson2• 11 years ago

It would be a lot more effective if it were elegant. The colloqualisms shoehorned into that sentence do it no favors.

bsmith• 11 years ago

"What a car-crash of a sentence."

*car crash

dragonwriter• 11 years ago

or "car-crash sentence"

will_brown• 11 years ago

I understand the sentiment of the article, and the business strategy could be the most lucrative; however, the article itself suggests none of the players, author included, actually understand trademark law.

A few of the legal issues I spot include: 1.) Though not registered with USPTO the original Sriracha manufacturers may have certain common law trademark rights as the first to enter the stream of commerce; 2.) that in theory nothing would have prohibited the trademarking of Sriracha while simultaneously providing a free limited license allowing competitors to use the mark; and 3.) the article seems to suggest it would have been possible for someone to come along after the original Sriracha and trademark the name, then prohibit the use of Sriracha by the original company.

basseq• 11 years ago

Tran has always had the zen and art of business administration on lock.

"Hot sauce must be hot. If you don't like it hot, use less," he said. "We don't make mayonnaise here."

He might have capitalized on the market by releasing a blander sauce, but he's doing just fine without it, so why compromise?

This is off-topic, but I caught hung up in the first sentence when the author mentions he has a place in his fridge for hollandaise sauce. Hollandaise sauce is good for 24-48 hours, even refrigerated. Dude must eat eggs benedict for every meal.

negrit• 11 years ago

Sriracha used to be a lot more hot. The problem is that if it's too hot then you use less then you eat less then you buy less.

Pretty sure he had to do a compromise to increase sales.

eric_h• 11 years ago

I thought that sriracha was very hot when I first tried it. I quickly became addicted to the stuff and pretty rapidly developed a strong tolerance for the heat. I suspect the same happened to you, I don't actually think he changed the formula.

colmvp• 11 years ago

I can't help but think you also touched upon a point I've been thinking about recently: the enthusiast.

You can dilute a product to appeal to everyone all the time, but the enthusiasts are the ones who help champion the product to friends and followers. The power of the word of mouth should never be under-estimated.

I was listening to a podcast by Zach Lowe where he interviewed one of the writers of Parks and Rec. Zach mentioned that sometimes he'll notice extremely esoteric jokes which would fly over the majority of the audience. And the writer responded those are what they call the 1% jokes. Those jokes absolutely kill it with people who recognize it, and probably also help inspire the writing staff who are likely inspired by the fact that they can produce work that they themselves find really funny.

archagon• 11 years ago

Eh, I eat off foods in my fridge all the time. Usually they still resemble their former glory days.

tlrobinson2• 11 years ago

What they should really trademark (if they haven't) is the bottle.

cwyers• 11 years ago

The rooster logo on the bottle IS trademarked.

jobu• 11 years ago

Several people I know call it Cock Sauce because of the rooster as a double entendre.

Kiro• 11 years ago

Sorry but Sriracha for breakfast?

snsr• 11 years ago

Absolutely; it goes well with almost anything :)

maxerickson• 11 years ago

I use it on eggs more than anything else.

cmiles74• 11 years ago

Put it on the eggs; scrambled, fried, whatever.

Karunamon• 11 years ago

Fried spam, scrambled eggs on a toasted and buttered english muffin with a bit of Sriracha on the top. Probably not super healthy, but I love the stuff.

3pt14159• 11 years ago

Take a look at the Tabasco sauce in question:

http://countrystore.tabasco.com/TABASCOsupreg_sup-Sriracha-S...

That is some pretty similar branding.

wlesieutre• 11 years ago

Trader Joe's uses a clear bottle with a green cap and white printing. Dragon instead of a rooster, but it's way more similar than Tabasco's version.

https://eatingatjoes.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/trader-joes...

It's also terrible. At least when I tried it last year. Too sweet.

BrainInAJar• 11 years ago

I don't understand why that exists. Store brands are for making things cheaper at comparable quality. Even if we want to accept that TJ's sriracha is of the same quality, proper Sriracha is absurdly cheap. You can buy a 6 month supply for a couple bucks, even if you use it for everything

Sriracha CEO on why he chose not to trademark the brand

Related Stories