Posts Tagged: "recipes"

Can cake designs result in intellectual property protection?

Excluding any questions regarding the rare patentability of a cake recipe, cake designs, under certain circumstances, may be protected under the laws of copyright and trademark. Specifically, for copyright, 17 USC 101 provides the relevant definition of a “pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work,” which may include two-dimensional and three-dimensional works relevant to cake designs. For example, if a cake design includes works of artistic craftsmanship insofar as their form but not their mechanical or utilitarian aspects are concerned, then such cake design can be protected under copyright.

Food for a Super Bowl Party, IP Style

I decided to reach out to John Mola, who runs the PLI San Francisco Conference Center and is in charge of virtually all the PLI patent programs. John is a foodee, and in his spare time is the purveyor of Gianni’s North Beach, which is a wonderful website and blog dedicated to Italian cuisine, particularly the restaurants in San Francisco’s North Beach. But I couldn’t show favoritism in the post, so I needed a Baltimore counter-balance. So I reached out to Barry Herman, who is in the Baltimore, Maryland offices of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP, and who recently co-authored Predicting Patentability in the Unpredictable Arts. His assistant, Angela Whaples, is a die-hard Ravens’ fan, and she came up with something that screams Baltimore!

The Law of Recipes: Are Recipes Patentable?

In most cases the typical recipe for a “killer Margarita” or “the best barbeque sauce ever” will not be patentable, but the only way to know for sure is to understand how the Patent Office reaches its conclusions relating to what can and cannot be patented. It is possible to obtain a patent on a recipe or food item if there is a unique aspect to the recipe, there is something counter-intuitive or a problem (such as self live or freshness) is being addressed. The trick will be identifying a uniqueness that is not something one would typically think to try.