Comments on: pâté infringement http://www.manifestdensity.net/2007/06/27/pa%c2%a2ta%c2%a9-infringement/ Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:07:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jake http://www.manifestdensity.net/2007/06/27/pa%c2%a2ta%c2%a9-infringement/comment-page-1/#comment-741 Jake Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:04:08 +0000 http://127.0.0.1:8888/?p=288#comment-741 I just read it. It's somewhat more complicated, in that the rights exist to some degree (trade dress in restaurant design, patent in novel and non-obvious business methods, copyright/trademark in logo/marketing materials)--but nothing described in the article really comes close to infringement of any kind. This says it all, in terms of the legal protection offered by IP:<blockquote>Many chefs are skeptical that intellectual property law conforms to their line of work. Tom Colicchio said that he had decided not to do anything about a sandwich shop that he considers a clone of his sandwich chain, ’Wichcraft. “There’s nothing you can do,” he said. “You can’t protect recipes, you can’t protect what a place looks like, it’s impossible.”</blockquote>Colicchio is correct--short of more or less exact copying, restaurants have no legal protection when it comes to this stuff. Thank god. And although trade secret law might offer some protection, I think it would be awfully hard to prove a violation. I just read it. It’s somewhat more complicated, in that the rights exist to some degree (trade dress in restaurant design, patent in novel and non-obvious business methods, copyright/trademark in logo/marketing materials)–but nothing described in the article really comes close to infringement of any kind.
This says it all, in terms of the legal protection offered by IP:
Many chefs are skeptical that intellectual property law conforms to their line of work. Tom Colicchio said that he had decided not to do anything about a sandwich shop that he considers a clone of his sandwich chain, ’Wichcraft. “There’s nothing you can do,” he said. “You can’t protect recipes, you can’t protect what a place looks like, it’s impossible.”

Colicchio is correct–short of more or less exact copying, restaurants have no legal protection when it comes to this stuff. Thank god.
And although trade secret law might offer some protection, I think it would be awfully hard to prove a violation.

]]> By: tom http://www.manifestdensity.net/2007/06/27/pa%c2%a2ta%c2%a9-infringement/comment-page-1/#comment-740 tom Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:43:01 +0000 http://127.0.0.1:8888/?p=288#comment-740 Actually, it's more like a trend piece: it basically says that you'll see more and more restaurauters "protecting their rights" as they become increasingly legally savvy. It doesn't point out that the law doesn't actually support those rights. Actually, it’s more like a trend piece: it basically says that you’ll see more and more restaurauters “protecting their rights” as they become increasingly legally savvy. It doesn’t point out that the law doesn’t actually support those rights.

]]> By: Jake http://www.manifestdensity.net/2007/06/27/pa%c2%a2ta%c2%a9-infringement/comment-page-1/#comment-739 Jake Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:21:47 +0000 http://127.0.0.1:8888/?p=288#comment-739 I haven't read the story, although I've seen a few links to it. I assume it's not unlike the dry cleaning suit, where it's played up as a tale of how screwed up our legal system is (when in fact the story ultimately demonstrates that our legal system usually gets it right). At any rate, IP claims for recipes definitely don't fly. The only exception I can imagine would be a trademark claim, if the public managed to associate a certain dish with your restaurant to such a degree that it becomes emblematic of the place. But even there, I expect that it would take incredibly strong consumer association (i.e., the Big Mac would be the bare minimum of consumer association I could seriously imagine) to have a plausible argument. And even there, protection would probably be very weak--slightly changing one or two of a dish's characteristics would probably suffice to prevent infringement. But even discussing this in such a hypothetical way is sorta dumb, because (like you said) it's a more or less impossible argument to make convincingly. I haven’t read the story, although I’ve seen a few links to it. I assume it’s not unlike the dry cleaning suit, where it’s played up as a tale of how screwed up our legal system is (when in fact the story ultimately demonstrates that our legal system usually gets it right).
At any rate, IP claims for recipes definitely don’t fly. The only exception I can imagine would be a trademark claim, if the public managed to associate a certain dish with your restaurant to such a degree that it becomes emblematic of the place. But even there, I expect that it would take incredibly strong consumer association (i.e., the Big Mac would be the bare minimum of consumer association I could seriously imagine) to have a plausible argument. And even there, protection would probably be very weak–slightly changing one or two of a dish’s characteristics would probably suffice to prevent infringement.
But even discussing this in such a hypothetical way is sorta dumb, because (like you said) it’s a more or less impossible argument to make convincingly.

]]>