What legal protection for recipes?

 

No copyright for recipes

In French law, a creation can be protected by copyrightIt should be protected if it is original (in that it bears "the stamp of its author's personality") and if it is materialized (a simple idea cannot benefit from protection. Therefore, a recipe should be eligible for protection. However, case law has long held that recipes are not eligible for copyright protection. In 1974 and again in 1997, the Paris Court of First Instance ruled that "although recipes may be protected in their literary expression, they do not in themselves constitute a work of the mind". With these decisions, the judges admit that if the recipe is written in an original way, the author can benefit from a protection on the writing, but not on the content itself. Thus, an author may object to a third party copying a published recipe word for word (by posting it on the internet, for example), but he may not prohibit him from rewriting the recipe, or even from making it public under his name.  

The secret recipe: an infallible method?

If you absolutely want to prevent your recipe from being repeated, only the secret is effective. Indeed, the recipe can be considered as a know-how, traditionally protected by the ancestral method of secrecy. This obviously implies not making your recipe public, whether in a book or on a blog. And if the recipe is to be shared, such as in the context of an employment contract or collaboration, the recipient must be informed of the existence of this secret. Ideally, you'll need to get them to sign a confidentiality agreement. Finally, it is recommended to mention on each copy of the recipe that it is a trade secret. Certain mentions such as "All rights reserved" or "Forbidden to publication" can also play a dissuasive role.  

Industrial property rights to the rescue of revenues

If they cannot protect the content of the recipe, some cooks choose to protect the name or the shape of their creations. Trademarks can be useful to obtain a monopoly on the name. If the recipe is closely linked to its creator, it may be worthwhile to register the name as a trademark. This is what the pastry chef Christophe Michalak or the chocolate maker Pierre Hermé have done. Moreover, if the name of the creation is original, it is possible to protect it directly. This was done for the famous Praluline (brioche with crushed pralines from Pralus). Let us recall that the trademark does not protect a tasteeven original. Another option is to protect the appearance of the recipe through a design registration. The starred chef Alain Passard has thus registered as a model several variations of its pie "bouquet of roses". But be careful, to benefit from protection, the design must be new and have its own character. If your dish does not have an original aesthetic, it cannot be protected by the model.  

A future certificate of culinary creation?

So cooks are the big losers in intellectual property. This situation is often regretted, and reforms are regularly mentioned. For example, a bill is currently being proposed to the National Assembly in order to fill this legal void and protect recipes and culinary creations. In particular, it proposes to create a new intellectual property title: the certificate of culinary creation. This would be issued by the National Institute of Certified Culinary Creation.   Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to know more about recipe protection.. We can assist you in the drafting of your confidentiality agreements, but also in the registration of trademarks or designs.