This is surprising since food is one of the oldest subjects of “IP” in Europe:
> [Sybaris around 700 BC] pioneered the concept of intellectual property to ensure that cooks could exclusively profit from their signature dishes for a whole year. [1]
> [Sybaris around 700 BC] pioneered the concept of intellectual property to ensure that cooks could exclusively profit from their signature dishes for a whole year. [1]
I've seen this in a lot of blogs and recipe books, but I don't know how far it extends, and I'm sure someone could extract just the base recipe from the narrative and the derivative work wouldn't violate copyright.
Once you have published a cooking recipe you cannot prevent anyone from recreating the dish by following that recipe, even restaurants.
That's made to ensure that ideas are free to flow. That's very good for auhtors (and society in general, as far as I'm concerned)
> Copyright does not protect information about the ingredients or cooking methods.
> It is not an infringement of copyright to watch someone prepare a dish and write down the ingredients and method in your own words.
What's copyrighted, is the word-for-word original reference. If you reword it, then that's free to disseminate.
It isn't what people think of as a recipe - the ingredients and methods involved. It's just that particular copy of the ingredients and methods involved.
[0] https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets...
Patenting an innovative recipe is perfectly allowed though, including design patents of the innovative look of the item.
This kind of cheese is not considered innovative enough though.
If it's distinguishable enough, you can also trademark the thing.
Again, only kinda. Techniques, styles, methods, ingredients, timings, quantities are all not covered by your copyright.
A bare-bones recipe would likely not be covered by copyright, as it has nothing in it that is copyrightable. Only when you expound on reasoning of methods, or cautions do you start to get things that can be copyrighted.
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> Patenting an innovative recipe is perfectly allowed though, including design patents of the innovative look of the item.
I'm not sure what has given you that idea. Generally speaking, in Australia, a process that creates an edible item, is not patentable. These are set out as non-patentable:
> Capable of being used as a food or medicine and is a simple mixture of known ingredients (section 50(1)(b)(i))
> Is produced by mere admixture (section 50(1)(b)(ii))
Unless the process itself is inventive, and involves techniques out-of-reach of the average person, it probably is not patentable.
However, you can trademark items that are not fit for the patent office, that has a lesser set of requirements.