A Guide Through the
Legal Jungle Trivia Question
Next
week, I’ll begin a blog series on recipes and copyrights. The series will include my commentary on rights
issues in two culinary-related books, Deceptively
Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food a cookbook written by
Jessica Seinfield, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and Julie & Julia in which a New Yorker
chronicles her project of cooking every
recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art
of French Cooking.
recipe-related Saturday trivia question is a kick-off for the series. Colleen Mulcrone, a law school student who
worked with me as a summer 2007 research assistant, contributed an initial
draft of this question.
has created her own special raspberry pie. She writes down the recipe, signs
it, and distributes copies of the recipe at the Bonaroo Music Festival. A
couple months later, she sees her recipe, printed almost word-for-word, in a
newly published cookbook, Munchies for
Music Fans. Does Frankey have a copyright infringement claim against the writers of the
cookbook?
- Absolutely
Yes. - No.
Recipes are not copyrightable. Frankey’s recipe is a procedure, and
procedures are not copyrightable. - Maybe.
If Frankey’s recipe contains expressive elements that were duplicated in the Munchies for Music Fans. cookbook,she may have an infringement claim. - It
depends on how distinctive the ingredients in Frankey’s recipe are when
compared to other raspberry pie recipes.
The
correct answer is C. A recipe which
simply lists ingredients and basic cooking directions is a list of processes
and procedures and is not copyrightable. However, a recipe with expressive
elements can be copyrightable. For example, if Frankey discussed which Pink
Floyd songs compliment the flavors in the pie and her suggestions were closely
repeated in Munchies for Music Fans,
she would likely have an infringement claim.
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