T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
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1254.1 | not easily | SKITZD::WILDE | Time and Tide wait for Norman | Thu Jul 07 1988 18:34 | 14 |
| Publish and sell cookbooks and you can sue anyone who publishes another
cookbook using the EXACT same recipe and sells it for profit. Probability
of success for the suit is low - it is impossible to prove that others
have not thought up the same combinations of food/spices, etc. on their
own...remember, all recipes are simply variations on previously KNOWN
mixtures of food items. Foods of unique shapes (like breakfast
cereals) make it easier to win a legal action - and some like shredded
wheat have been copyrighted in the past (none are now as far as I know).
If you get involved in creating a NEW food, through hybred breeding
or genetic engineering, THEN you can copyright it. However, Mom's
fantastic apricot, chocolate mousse is simply not copyrightable....even
if it is the very best chocolate mousse in the world.
|
1254.2 | How about the name?!! | SONATA::ARDINI | | Thu Jul 07 1988 18:49 | 6 |
| How about just a name? You should be able to get a name copywrited
or protected legally. And if you can do this and you produce something
that someone else may already have made you atleast will have rights
to the name. Just a thought!
George
|
1254.3 | welllll, not really.. | TRILGY::WILDE | Time and Tide wait for Norman | Thu Jul 07 1988 20:23 | 10 |
| A totally unique name would almost have to be a new word, I would think..sorta
like PEPSI or COCA COLA, rather than "..... APRICOT CHOCOLATE MOUSE" or you
would be stepping on other, prior, occurrances of the name...and I know that
gets to be a VERY fuzzy area of establishing copyrighting...When we talk
about food, we are using words that are firmly in the category of commmonly
used words and phrases - which may not be copyrighted...if I remember
correctly...unless copyrighted in a unique phrase - this buys you nothing,
really, because I can name a product ALMOST the same name and get away
with it...at least enough of the time to make it worthwhile to try.
|
1254.4 | to expand on the theme of Dian Wilde | LYMPH::RYDER | Al Ryder, aquatic sanitary engineer | Fri Jul 08 1988 07:53 | 5 |
| A classic case is "Bayer's Asprin". If I recall corrctly, the word,
"asprin", was created by Bayer as a commercial label for the product.
Others jumped in and Bayer sued. The courts ruled that by using
the possesive Bayer had implied that there were other "asprins".
Case dismissed. They should have called it simply "Asprin".
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1254.5 | Try entering food contests | DELNI::HANDEL | | Fri Jul 08 1988 13:57 | 5 |
| She might try entering contests with some of her recipes. The sponsors
sometimes pay the winner a lot of money or give good prizes. They
will, however, own the winner's recipe after the contest. They
like unusual recipes, or a variation on a theme that is totally
unique.
|