References
- “Are Recipes Protected by Copyright Law?”. Kiera Boyd. Fasken. The Angle. Lexology. Published: 2021-07-07. Accessed: 2024-10-31T04:50Z. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=bc2cc721-99bc-47f0-be4f-727f25421201.
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In [Publications International, Ltd. v. Meredith Corp. 88 F.3d 473 (7th Cir. 1996) ], the court stated that a functional list of ingredients cannot be considered original within the meaning of the Copyright Act.
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In Lambing v. Godiva Chocolatier, 142 F. 3d 434 (6th Cir. 1998) [Lambing], the court stated plainly that recipes are not protected by copyright, completely ignoring the possibility that a recipe could contain enough expressive elements to make it copyrightable.
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Canadian courts have not yet addressed the issue of copyright in recipes […]. Under Canadian copyright law, facts, formulas, and ideas are not protected by copyright. This means that just like in the U.S., recipes which only list ingredients (facts) and the steps that one takes to complete the recipe (formulas) are likely not protected by copyright in Canada.
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Based on current Canadian copyright law and the leading caselaw on the subject in the U.S., a list of ingredients or matter-of-fact instructions regarding the process of creating a recipe is unlikely to be protected by copyright law.
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- keepitquickk. “Is it unethical to use online recipes for my restaurant? Am I stealing someone’s work?”. r/NoStupidQuestions. Reddit. Published: 2021-11-16T16:00:59.196Z. Accessed: 2024-10-31T04:58Z. https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/qvb0gy/comment/hkv7xg6/.
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[…] you can’t copyright a recipe […]
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Wait so does that mean I can legally steal the coca cola recipe?
This is why some things are trade secrets rather then trademarked.
Only very few people in the world know the coca cola recipe. Legally your free to recreate it and sell. Good luck though knowing that the company has an exclusive contract to process cocaïne leaves into flavoring extract. (The narcotic byproduct sold to phrama)
Coca leaves. Cocaine is the concentrated and processed stimulant drug.
Coca leaves are also a stimulant, but at a fraction of the strength.
That said, you are correct, Coca-Cola denatures them anyway, so the only stimulant part comes from the caffeine. It’s a bit silly. You’d have to drink a supermarket aisle’s worth of Coca-Cola to get the equivalent of a line of cocaine.
Coca leaves are also legal in parts of South America, where it originates, even though cocaine is not. Coca has deep cultural roots and also has practical value. Along with its stimulant properties, it helps with altitude sickness in the Andes.
I’ve had mate de coca- coca tea. It’s traditionally either chewed or made into tea. I was able to get it imported from a website that no longer exists and I’m guessing I know why. Anyway, aside from the taste (vaguely like damp straw), it was pretty great. Kept you more awake than coffee without any jittery feelings and was completely gone within a few hours.
(Apologies for rambling.)
If you are able to get a hold of the recipe, you could duplicate it without retribution.
Well, aside from it being illegal for any entity except Coke to handle one of the ingredients.
And what ingredient is that? 👀
The coke
You put the lime in the coke, YOU NUT!!!
And shake it all up.
Coca leaves. They’re de-coked prior to use, but they’re still a controlled substance. Coke has an exception built into the law that effectively makes them the only country in the US that can access them (possibly outside of medical, I’m not really sure and don’t care to check). There’s not a lot in the drink anymore as it is, just enough to keep the name.
TIL Coca-Cola is a country in the US.
It depends a bit on what you mean by “stealing”
If you were to break into the coke vault, hack into their computers, threaten or blackmail a coke executive, etc. in order to obtain it, those would all be illegal acts on their own.
But if you reverse-engineered the recipe yourself, or just happened to come across it in some legal fashion you could do pretty much whatever you want with it- publish the recipe, make your own cola and sell it (can’t call it “coca-cola” or “Coke” though because of trademarks and such,) try to sell the recipe to one of Coke’s competitors, etc.
Anyone with the recipe is going to have a hell of a time trying to do anything with it though because one of the ingredients is allegedly still coca leaf extract and coke is pretty much the only entity that is allowed to do anything with the stuff.
Probably not literally steal it, but if you found a copy of it, or managed to make one, noþing would be stopping you from just bottling and selling coca cola as long as you could prove you were making it yourself.