Recipes and Copyright

I wrote a while ago about this case... Thanks to the Trademark Blog, I found the link to the decision.

The SDNY found no copyright infringement.

The plaintiff acknowledged that "individual recipes do not necessarily qualify for copyright protection" (page 13). Pursuant to 17 USC § 102 (b), "In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work." The Defendant's book does not incorporate the text of specific plaintiff's recipes. For instance, defendant recommended using avocado puree as an ingredient for chocolate pudding, as advocated by the plaintiff. This is a process. So is using sauerkraut in a chocolate cake.

Plaintiff also aknowledged that camouflaging vegetables in children's favorite foods is an idea, and thus not protectible by copyright. Plaintiff tried to claim protection for making the purees in advance, and storing them for future use, but the SDNY found this too abstract, and is merely an idea, hiding veggies in food liked by children. Not a new idea... According to the Court, "Plaintiff's inclusion of process details, primarily focused on time-saving techniques, is insufficient to transform an unprotectible idea into a copyrightable expression of that idea."