Chefs and cookbook authors grumble about unauthorized duplication, contrasting it with the manner in which songwriters receive royalties.
One of the frustrations that chefs face as creative types is the ease with which their inspirations, whether recipe, plate presentation, or ingredient combination, can be ripped off by others.
Traditionally, copyright protection has applied only to the specific language of a recipe, with no intellectual property rights attached to the ideas behind a dish.
Thus it's a violation of copyright law to reprint or otherwise reproduce a particular recipe, but it's perfectly permissible for another chef to cook and serve a dish without its original creator getting any of the credit.
Chefs and cookbook authors grumble about such unauthorized duplication, contrasting it with the manner in which songwriters receive royalties for every public performance of their musical compositions.
A recent article in the UCLA Law Review, "Trade Dress Protection for Cuisine," suggests, however, that trade dress law, an aspect of trademark protection, might be used to partially shield a chef's culinary efforts from misappropriation.
Naomi Strauss, the lawyer and former restaurant worker who authored the article, suggests that trade dress (the design and visual look of a business establishment) might reasonably be extended to menu language and layout and even to the manner in which a restaurant chef plates a particular dish.
While such a legal theory, Straus argues, would only penalize a competitor who blatantly reproduced a particular dish, the trade dress designation would at least protect signature items and offer legal recourse against those who "stole" them.
Strauss admits, however, that transforming her ideas into settled law will require that a number of legal challenges against restaurant copycats be mounted and won.