Dominique Ansel

The Cronut chef trademarked it but refused to license away millions

The Cronut, invented in 2013 by French pastry chef Dominique, went viral and he trademarked the name — but as a purist artist he chose not to license it, walking away from what Sam estimates could have been tens of millions in licensing revenue. The lesson: name and trademark your viral food invention, because the IP can be worth more than the product.

“He actually trademarked the name Cronut And he is like a purist. He's like an artist. So he didn't actually want to license it to people, but he easily could have made tens of millions or more by licensing that name to someone. And so there's a step further. So you create the food and you got to come up with a really cute name and you could actually get a trademark and, and there's licensing deals there.”

Steal thisTrademark the cute name of your viral food invention so you can license the IP, not just sell the product.