In case you haven’t had a taste yet, Mumbo sauce is a tangy condiment served at local eateries across Washington, D.C. Its unique flavor makes it a versatile accouterment for anything from fried rice to ribs to chicken wings. Yet what exactly the sauce is made from and who came up with the recipe has been left to mystery, leaving the District’s entrenched population to assume ownership: “Mumbo sauce is DC… the subculture.” Yet despite the Washington folklore and nostalgia that Mumbo has come to represent, the legal rights to “Mumbo Sauce” may not belong to the nation’s capitol, but instead…Chicago?

Arsha Jones, a DC resident who loved Mumbo so much she made it her job, makes and bottles her homemade recipe under the brand “Capitol City Mumbo Sauce.” When Jones learned that Select Brands had been selling Mumbo sauce under that name since the 1950s, she filed a petition to cancel the company’s trademark registration. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed the case, finding that Capital City was unable to demonstrate that the trademark had become generic.

“The legal test for whether a trademark has become generic is whether, for all consumers, the term primarily refers to the type of item,” said Select Brands’ attorney. “‘Aspirin,’ ‘thermos’ and ‘zipper’ are three examples of trademarks that have become generic.” DC’s mumbo sauce, on the other hand, connotes more of a regional colloquialism, with no one particular spelling, pronunciation (“mumbo, mambo, mumble”), or recipe accepted.

History supports the court’s decision. Mumbo sauce dates back to 1957, when Argia B. Collins first introduced it at his barbeque joint in Chicago’s South Side. Collins migrated north from the Mississippi Delta region following WWII, and his special sauce helped his ribs become famous across the city. Eventually Mumbo made its way to DC where it was embraced and adopted by the city’s African American residents. By then Collins’ successor-in-interest, Select Brands, had taken over the sauce operation, and in 1999 registered the trademark MUMBO with the U.S.P.T.O.

Jones is unfazed by the court’s decision, and plans to seek pro bono to file an appeal. “This was never about me and my money and my pockets. It was about doing what was best for the community of D.C.”