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ARTICLE · 24 OCTOBER 2017

From Plants To Patents

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
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Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

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When you hear the term patent, cell phones and pharmaceuticals might come to mind, but what about recipes?

United StatesIntellectual Property
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
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When you hear the term patent, cell phones and pharmaceuticals might come to mind, but what about recipes? Can a recipe be patented? Under U.S. patent law, any "new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof" may receive a patent.

The ingredients and final product can be described as a composition of matter or a product of manufacture. The instructions for the recipe can be considered a process. So, yes, recipes are eligible for patents.

The biggest hurdle to patenting a recipe is usually convincing the United States Patent and Trademark Office that the idea is new and not obvious. Both are requirements for patentability. The office will not issue a patent for an idea that it deems to be an obvious improvement of a known product or an obvious combination of two or more known products. Admittedly, in the context of recipes, this can be quite difficult.

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