Rancho Gordo bean club

[Jenise]

From the San Fran Chronicle:

Last month, it came to light that Rancho Gordo, America’s favorite heirloom bean purveyor, had started sending trademark enforcement letters. The Napa company trademarked the term “bean club” back in 2022, but this was the first time it had made attempts at enforcement. Some were outraged by the foodie world darling’s litigiousness toward smaller bean brands, but ultimately, the controversy has actually benefited the brand.

“I’ve been surprised how sales have gone up,” founder Steve Sando told SFGATE, adding that since early April, sales have increased by 12% year over year. “I think they’ve introduced us to a whole bunch of people who didn’t know about us.” The San Francisco Chronicle was the first to report the letters, back in April. (The San Francisco Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Sando founded Rancho Gordo in 2001 and launched its popular bean club back in 2013. The club has 30,000 members and 35,000 people on the waitlist. Members receive beans, of course, but also perks like access to an exclusive Facebook community, recipes and special dinners. If bean clubs seem commonplace now, that’s only because Rancho Gordo invented them, Sando said.

“I think if you weren’t there, you don’t realize the revolution that happened and how we were at the forefront of it,” he told SFGATE of the companies that have received the letters. “Like the reason you’re even doing a bean club is because of us.”

I met Steve in 2000 or 2001 at an eGullet offline (remember that site? It's still kicking, like this one). He was a teddy bear with an incredible focus on product quality. He deserves all the kudos for rescuing artisan bean varieties when no one in the US (that I'm aware of) cared. I can't even count the number of times online and off that I've recommended Rancho Gordo. That said, he's acting like a real schmuck. I mean, Screaming Eagle and Parade Magazine both have wine clubs, is anyone getting them confused? The "jelly of the month club" was a punchline back in 1989, fer cryin' out loud. Just because the law is on his side is no excuse for acting more like Nestle than the Steve Sando I know and love.

I wrote him a letter (the handwritten kind) relating the above and got back a response, presumably one drafted with the help of the "crisis communications firm" he has engaged. It doubles down on the idea that the people who are making their own bean clubs stole the idea from him. The most recent Chronicle article says that his club has 30,000 members while the two competitors have 500 and 600. I dunno, I love Steve but I do not like the way he's acting. Will seek out new sources of top-quality beans and grains. Anyone have a good source for carnaroli rice? None of the local store have it, not even Whole Foods.

[Jenise]

It all seems pretty unfortunate, and if that's all the competition is doing? Seems silly. Are you sure his last name isn't Gallo?

Re Carnaroli rice, I buy it in Canada. Easy to find there, and about half the price. So I can't help you, but I would think Bay area Italian delis would be a great source of such things.

I've been buying from Rancho Gordo for many years and have not heard any of this. He tends to get a bit political now and then, sending out postcards with his orders. I toss them out as I do not use postcards. His beans are seasonal, which I love because the products are great and always fresh. His beans cook up perfectly, as I cook them in a slow cooker on low. Always delicious. Service is great, he lets you know when shipped and provides a delivery date. Sometimes I get on a wait list if the bean is coming in later than expected, but his communication is always there. I just received my spring order a month ago, Royal Corona, and Large white Lime Beans. Yum!

Walter, try this for your rice: https://shop.sognotoscano.com/products/ ... 0583884960

I'm a bit surprised that the US Patent and Trademark Office would allow "bean club" to be registered as a trademark. Did the article say what outfits Rancho Gordo thinks are violating the trademark and why? Were any of them using the allegedly violating name/phrase before the trademark was issued?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, his claim is that no, they did not exist previously.

I'm really surprised you're not finding Carnaroli out where you are, Walter. I can think of three or four places here to get it, including a local supermarket chain. There must be a specialty grocer or deli somewhere near you that carries it.

[Robin Garr]

RG Bean Club member here since around 2016, and very fond of Steve and his approach to the world of the leguminati. This does seem odd, but he takes it very seriously ... and from a legal standpoint* I understand that he has to actively defend his mark or he stands to lose it.

_____________
I am not a lawyer, but I'm a recovering journalist and I've covered a number of trademark disputes with aggressive business owners defending their marks in the interest of keeping them ... most notably Kern's Kitchen, the makers of Derby-Pie (TM), who've been going after thousands of imitators for a half-century. I got to see the court's files on their cases, and back in the late '80s it was already a shelf 10 feet long.

Yes, Robin, my non-lawyerly understanding is the same as yours. Use it or lose it. But as the articles discuss, just because he has the right to "bean club" doesn't mean that he has to enforce it. He can use "Rancho Gordo Bean Club" without sending nastygrams to everyone who has a bean club. Like the person who trademarked "chili crisp" and then declined to enforce it.

[David M. Bueker]

(Too long working with the lawyers response)

It would not shock me at all if Rancho Gordo was the first company to have a bean club. It would not shock me if they were the first to even think of such an idea. Lots of things that are innovative seem obvious AFTER they have been created. Hindsight is not the standard.

As for protecting the trademark, I think it’s wholly appropriate. Failing to do so does not just make things more polite/easier for friendly little mom and pop businesses to have a “bean club”, it also then opens it up to larger entities (e.g., the behemoth Goya) because if a business fails to enforce its trademark then it loses the protection.

All I will say, David, is there are plenty of things that are good for a business financially and perfectly legal that fall far, far short of being moral. I thought Steve was one of the good ones.

I'm with Walter on this. The term "bean club" is just too generic for them to be going after others for using it.

I guess other bean companies will just need to go with "club for beanheads" or "legume club" or "bean subscription service", or some other terminology which ends up being kinda ridiculous for no real good reason.

I'm with Walter on this. The term "bean club" is just too generic for them to be going after others for using it.

That is why I said I was surprised that the Patent and Trademark Office allowed it to be registered. Usually trademarks of this sort are adjectives, for example, Fritos ® Corn Chips. "Fritos" is the trademark, not "Corn Chips". Common words or phrases are frowned upon for trademarking. Microsoft has been a notorious violator of that rule of thumb with names such as Windows, Office and Word. I think they get away with it because the actual trademarked phrases are Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office Word. They most certainly do not have simply "Windows" as a trademark. The term "windows" was being used as a technical term for screen-based computer graphical user interfaces involving a keyboard and monitor screen with multiple rectangular areas selectable using a mouse, well before Microsoft picked that up. For example the X Window System.

As pointed out, there's a "use it or lose it" aspect to trademarks. To retain the unique ability to use the mark, the owner must vigorously defend it. This is why Coca-Cola gets so upset with Southerners using "Coke" as a generic term for "soft drink".

It is permissible for more than one entity to use a trademark as long as there is no marketplace confusion. For example, there was a kitchen goods store in Nashua, NH named McDonald's. This did not infringe on the fast food restaurant's trademark because there is no way a reasonable person could confuse the two--the restaurant doesn't sell kitchen appliances and the Nashua store doesn't sell food.

There was a series of disputes between Apple Corps (the record company founded by The Beatles) and Apple Computer from 1978-2007. Apple Corps originally objected to the use of the name "Apple", and an apple as a logo, by the Jobs and Wozniak company. The first dispute was settled in 1981 with Apple Computer paying Apple Corps $80,000 and an agreement that Apple Computer would not enter the music business and Apple Corps would stay out of the computer business. In 1986 Apple Computer added MIDI and audio-recording capabilities to the Apple II, prompting Apple Corps to object that this was a violation of the 1981 settlement. The second legal hoo-hah was settled in 1991 with Apple Corps receiving a US$26.5 payment and an agreement on the use of the "Apple" trademark. Apple Corps was entitled to use it on "creative works whose principal content is music". Apple Computer was entitled to use it on "goods and services used to reproduce, run, play, or otherwise deliver such content" but not the right to package, sell, or distribute physical music materials. Apple Corps sued again in 2003 over the creation and operation of Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store. In 2006 a UK High Court judge ruled in favor of Apple Computer. Apple Corps appealed the decision. But in 2007 the two companies reached a final settlement, with Apple Computer paying US$500 million for exclusive rights to "Apple" and then licensing Apple Corps to continue its traditional use of the trademark.

Patent and trademark law is horribly complicated.

-Paul W.

Patent and trademark law is horribly complicated.

So is the greed and dissimulation that makes it necessary.

They may have been first to do a bean club, but I think it's too generic, and I don't think (hindsight or not) it was ever "innovative". There are wine of the month clubs, cheese clubs, cigar clubs, steak clubs, fruit clubs, and many others just within the food world.