TRADEMARK

Instructions

Using the facts given below, assess whether or not the term "cronut" is generic. In your assessment, try to identify and evaluate all of the evidence below that could be used to either support or contradict a finding of genericism.

Cronuts

Dominique Ansel is a pastry chef and owner of the Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City. In 2013, Ansel created a new pastry that is a cross between a croissant and a doughnut. The pastry uses a croissant-like laminated dough, which is cut into the shape of a doughnut, deep-fried, filled with cream, and topped with a glaze. Ansel sells these pastries at his bakery (and only at his bakery), labelled as "Cronuts." He advertises them on his website using this graphic: ExhibitA Download ExhibitA.

EXHIBIT A: IS A CRONUT PHOTO WITH " half croissant, half donut"

EXHIBIT: B WEBSITE: CRONUT 101 , the Chef, the menu ( Dominique Ansel Bakery) with a photo and question answer:

what is a cronut? half croissant, half donut- the pastry hybrid created by Chef Dominique Ansel that is taking the word by storm. After its launch on May 10, 2013, cronut fans spanned the world from Berlin to Singapore, making it the most viral dessert item to date.

The making of cronut. Take two months and more than 10 recipes, chef Dominique Ansel creation is not to be mistaken as simply croissant dough that has been fried. Made with laminated dough similar to a croissant ( but not exactly), the cronut is first proofed and then fried in grape seed oil at a specific temperature. Once cooked eachcronut is flavored in 3 ways, rolled in sugar, filled with cream and topped with glaze.

How to order cronut: 1. wait in line, 2. get on pre order list, 3 place a large order, please email the shop.

For a while, Ansel's Cronuts were so popular that people stood in line for hours to get one. During this time, someone started a business called the "Cronut Delivery Service," which offered to stand in line for you and then deliver the Cronut to you, for a fee of $100.

Since 2013, many other bakeries have started to sell some version of a croissant-doughnut hybrid. Most of these, including the ones from the fast-food chain Jack-in-the-Box, are called "croissant donuts." A few small, independent bakeries call their products "cronuts."

The croissant-doughnut trend has been widely reported on in the media, with headlines such as "Nine Cronut Imposters From Around the World," and "Where to Get a Cronut in Los Angeles." Cronuts and related products are also frequently discussed on social media. More than 360,000 photos on the photo-sharing site Instagram have been tagged with the hashtag #cronut or #cronuts. Fewer than 10% of such pictures appear to depict Ansel's product. The vast majority of the pictures depict some other croissant-doughnut product. A typical example is one showing a picture of a croissant donut from Jack-in-the-Box, with the caption "nothing is better after a #marielu #booksigning than a #cronut from #jackinthebox."

A competing bakery commissioned a nationwide telephone survey of more than 2,000 adults who had purchased pastries in the preceding year. The survey respondents were first asked, "Are you familiar with a pastry that is a cross between a croissant and a doughnut?" Approximately 60% of respondents answered "Yes" to this question and the remaining 40% answered "No." Those who said they were familiar with such a product were then asked, "What would you call such a pastry?" Of those who were asked this question, 70% said "cronut," 25% said "croissant donut," and the remaining 5% gave some other answer.

Ansel commissioned his own survey, in which respondents were asked, "For each of the following terms, is it a brand name or a common name: CROISSANT? DUNKIN DONUTS? CRONUT?" The results are summarized in this table:

Term	Brand Name	Common Name	Don't Know
CROISSANT	12%	82%	6%
DUNKIN DOUNTS	68%	15%	17%
CRONUT	53%	31%	16%

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