Culinary art is developing more and more, and chefs have constantly created, and invested in research to produce new, unique, and highly commercial recipes. Food brands or restaurants have their special recipes that play a significant role in determining the success of that restaurant. So, are recipes protected by copyright?
1. What are recipes?
Recipes are understood as instructions on how to prepare a certain dish. Recipes include the name of the dish, the time of execution, the ingredients and the number, the ratio of them, the equipment needed, the steps taken, and the processing methods from preliminary processing to cooking and presentation.
2. Are recipes protected by copyright?
According to the Law on Intellectual Property of Vietnam, the subjects of copyright protection literary, artistic, and scientific works (according to Article 14 of the Law on Intellectual Property), including:
- Literary, scientific works, textbooks, teaching courses, and other works expressed in written form or other characters;
- Lectures, addresses, and other sermons;
- Pressworks;
- Musical works;
- Theatrical works;
- Cinematographic works and works created by a process analogous to cinematography (below collectively referred to as cinematographic works);
- Fine artworks and applied artworks;
- Photographic works;
- Architectural works;
- Sketches, plans, maps, and drawings related to topography, architecture, or scientific works;
- Folklore and folk artworks of folk culture;
- Computer programs and data compilations.
Recipes are not one of the works protected by copyright stated in the Law on Intellectual Property of Vietnam. Although cooking is also new and innovative, its essence is a process and method of implementation. Under Article 15 of the Law on Intellectual Property, the process or method of operation is not protected by copyright. Therefore, recipes not fixed in a certain material form are not protected by copyright.
However, when a recipe is fixed in written form, the text is protected by copyright in the form of another work or cooking instruction textbook and protected as a literary work. The creator of the recipe can write a recipe with a description of the implementation process and the whole range of methods and ways of creating the dish. The person writing the recipe is the author and has full moral and property rights to the work. For example, if a recipe is printed in a book, or presented in an article or magazine, the recipe text is protected by copyright.
The registration of recipe protection in the form of copyright protection prevents other individuals or organizations from modifying, copying, distributing, communicating works to the public, renting, or making derivative works for recipes in written form. However, copyright protection is not absolute if the creator of the formula wants to keep the formula secret. Because copyright only protects the form of expression and does not apply to the content and ideas of the work, others are completely entitled to access, read the recipe, and make the dish as instructed.
If the creator of the recipe intends to share or wishes to achieve economic benefits through the sale of recipes in the form of documents or books, the registration of copyright protection as above is entirely reasonable. When the creator wants to keep the recipe completely confidential for business purposes, the formula must be guaranteed not to be disclosed and not easily accessible to be protected as a trade secret.
So, recipes can be completely protected by copyright. However, the choice to protect a recipe in what form depends on the purpose and wishes of its creator.
Here is the article “Are cooking recipes protected by Copyright?”. We hope this article was helpful to you.
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