Re: Copyright of recipes

On Mon, 22 Apr 1996, Sobel, Michael wrote:
>
> Re the parameters for the protection of recipes:
>
> The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on this topic
> late last year or early this year (I can't recall the name, but it
> should be easy to find on Westlaw/Lexis). The Court concluded that
> the recipes before it were not protected, because they were old
> American standards. The Court left open the possibility, however,
> that other recipes could be protected.

That would be the Buffets, Inc. case, a trade secret case. As I recall, the court found that the recipes, being standard fare, did not meet the requirement that a trade secret not be generally known. This holding wouldn't affect the question of whether a particular expression of a recipe is subject to copyright (as opposed to trade secret).

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