Activity: Alex the Chef

chef

Let’s think about Alex the chef once again.

Having learned how the various forms of IP can either intersect or exclude each other, let us re-examine the different forms of IP that Alex might consider in her overall IP strategy.

Scenario 1

Alex is especially proud of a new cooking technique she developed for using dry ice and lemons to create a unique texture and taste for cooked vegetables. She would like to ensure that no one is able to reproduce her process without her permission.

Alex could consider using confidential information/trade secret protection if the process cannot be easily reverse-engineered or at least until she files her patent.

Scenario 2

Alex is writing a cookbook that will include her best and most popular recipes. She knows that she will have copyright in the cookbook.

If Alex has kept her best recipes secret, then she would likely have confidential information/trade secret protection in these recipes. She would lose this protection once her secret recipes are published in a book.

Alex will have to think strategically about which recipes to include and the costs and benefits of full disclosure of all her recipes in her book.

Alex might consider a hybrid strategy in which she would choose not to publish her very special recipes in order to keep her competitive advantage. She could then maintain confidential information/trade secret protection over the unpublished recipes.

Scenario 3

Alex is considering selling some of her special sauces at her restaurant. Her restaurant is called Bobo and she wants the sauces to be called Bobo Blends.

She could consider copyright to the extent that she can claim that her trademark and logo are artistic works.

Scenario 4

Alex has designed special bottles for Bobo Blends sauces. These long and thin bottles resemble the shape of carrots.

She could consider trademark protection in the shape of the bottles and copyright in the design drawing of the bottle as an artistic work, but not necessarily in the three-dimensional shape of the bottle in countries that limit the availability of copyright for mass-produced useful articles.
Last modified: Thursday, 3 September 2020, 1:06 PM