Your IP Valentine: Can Recipes Be Protected by Copyright?

According to the code of ethics of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, a culinary professional must not knowingly "appropriate [...] any recipe or other intellectual property belonging to another without the proper recognition." And, in addition to the ethical, there are legal issues. While copying culinary creations might not sound like a big deal to millennial food bloggers and vloggers, lawsuits—sometimes with high stakes—have been filed over (mis)appropriated recipes. But whether claims to a signature dish will hold up in court is a different question and will likely depend on the scope of protection of the applicable copyright law(s).

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