Well that’s rich, given that he admitted to copying Lao gan ma when this came out.
Wow, what a dick move.
On a recent work trip to Vegas, we discussed esting at Momofuku because it was in our hotel… I’m glad we didnt.
(Managers opted instead for the omakase menu at Zuma, which was amazing)
Ick. Not a good look for the brand.
I expect most people looking to buy Chili Crunch won’t know anything about the trademark bullying on Momofuku’s part and will buy it because it’s easily available.
I cross-posted the original link on FTC; there’s an interesting conversation there with some additional links.
Not much love or respect for David Chang and/or Momofuku over on FTC, is there?
Is there here? 
It’s amazing how he comes off as such a personable, likable dude in his shows, and not in a way that seems fake, and then seems to engage in some questionable business practices like bullying.
Fer shame. OTOH, I’ve always gotten the lao gan ma or other varieties available at our Asian grocers 
This paragraph alone should preclude the US Patent and Trademark Office from granting Chang/Momofuku the TM.
“Chili crunch has a history that long predates Momofuku’s product and is culturally common throughout a variety of cuisines from China to Korea to Malaysia, where I grew up,” she wrote, citing the product is based on a family recipe that goes back “at least five generations.”
I’m on Team Simu Liu because he went to my alma mater.
Even the South China Morning Post picked up on the story. 
Also, hold on. I’m going to edit this post, to add a link.
[Edit: a photo]
Gift link:
Possibly paywalled:
“We wanted a name we could own”
Then you shouldn’t have rehashed a product — you should have invented a new one.
He’s always come off as douchy to me.
Gift link:
From the Washington Post link:
On his July 2020 podcast, just ahead of Momofuku’s chili crunch debut, Chang talked about the long, painstaking process for creating the condiment. The recipe pulled from many sources, he said: not just Laoganma, the beloved Chinese company behind a variety of chili sauces and oils, but also Mexican salsa macha and salsa seca. Chang even name checked restaurants from his youth in Northern Virginia.
“We’re not going to do anything that everyone else is doing,” Chang said in the podcast. “It’s gotta be our story, and our story is not our story. Our story is going to be a blending of all these other stories that we’re trying to do differently.”
As such, Momofuku argues in its statement, the company wanted to create a name that “we could own and intentionally picked ‘Chili Crunch’ to further differentiate it from the broader chili crisp category, reflecting the uniqueness of Chili Crunch.” To the company, the name was an attempt to create a brand as unique as, say, the cereal brands Cap’n Crunch and Catalina Crunch.
(I still think poorly of him.)
It’s a nice story. And still.
Yep. I agree.
Also from the WAPO piece:
In Homiah’s letter to Momofuku, its lawyer wrote: “This isn’t Momofuku’s first attempt to register generic and descriptive terms for Asian foods. Your client’s attempt to own SSÄM SAUCE (U.S. Trademark Application Serial No. 88881122) in 2021 was ruled generic, and demonstrates a pattern to attempt to own generic Asian cultural products to anticompetitive effect.”
I’ve not followed him as a person or persona, ever.
I can merely go by a few interviews I’ve seen, and the recent dinner show.
Also, zero investment in the guy 
