Cronut name gets trademark; copycats beware?

The Cronut, that magical round of puffy and creamy pastry, seems to have gone and made things official with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Cronut name shows up on a registration certificate marked with Tuesday’s date, filed in New York by Dominique Ansel. That’s the guy who once served as executive pastry chef at upscale eatery Daniel and now owns the eponymous Soho bakery where, this spring, the Cronut was born.

The half-croissant, half-doughnut concoction -- once described by the Los Angeles Times as “proprietary laminated dough that is proofed then fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature” before being rolled in sugar, injected with cream and then glazed -- has legions of fans.

Ansel’s bakery makes a few hundred a day, which are snapped up in a minutes by an inevitably long line of hopefuls waiting outside each morning. Ansel first moved to trademark the pastry hybrid in May.

In the interim, a slew of knockoffs have emerged: brioughnuts, cruller-doughnuts, Crö-Doughs and, in some South Korea department stores, “cronuts” with savory toppings.

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