MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-09-07 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Copyright Wars - Chicken Sandwich
|
SmartNews Keeping you current
U.S. Court Says A Chicken Sandwich Can’t Be Copyrighted
Man claims intellectual property theft for putting chicken on a bun.
chicken sandwich
(Michael Harrison Photography/the food passionates/Corbis)
By Danny Lewis
smithsonian.com
August 31, 2015
It seems simple: take a piece of fried chicken breast and put it on a
bun along with some lettuce, tomato, American cheese and garlic
mayonnaise. But a recent court case has complicated the chicken
sandwich. On August 25, a judge declared that a man who claims he
invented the chicken sandwich will not get the $10 million he was
seeking in damages from theft of intellectual property.
Related Content
Copyright Confection: The Distinctive Topography of the Hershey Bar
The plaintiff, a man named Norberto Colón Lorenzana, claims that while
working at a Church’s Chicken franchise in Puerto Rico in 1987, he
had the idea to add a basic chicken sandwich to the menu. Colón says
that he invented the recipe and named the Pechu Sandwich that the chain
began selling in 1991. The sandwich took off and the company made
millions — but Colón didn’t. While the franchisee that owns and
operates every Church’s Chicken in Puerto Rico, South American
Restaurant Corporation (SARCO), made millions, Colón didn’t see a
cent from his invention — and last year, he tried to change that,
Jon Brodkin writes for Ars Technica.
"Colón claims that SARCO violated his intellectual property rights for
both the "recipe" of the Pechu Sandwich and the name of the item
itself," according to an appeal from the U. S. District Court for the
District of Puerto Rico. "He asserts that the term Pechu Sandwich is a
creative work, of which he is the author."
While SARCO has been selling the Pechu Sandwich at its Church’s
Chicken restaurants in Puerto Rico for the last 24 years, the company
trademarked the name only eight years ago. In 2014, Colón filed a
complaint in an attempt to regain "All the earnings produced by his
creation," amounting to no less than $10 million, Roberto A. Ferdman
writes for The Washington Post.
Unfortunately for Colón, the United States Court of Appeals of the
First Circuit disagreed, ruling that the supposed inventor of the
chicken sandwich was not entitled to the $10 million he sought. While
the Copyright Act protects novels, films, music, architecture and some
forms of art, culinary creations are left out in the cold.
"A recipe — or any instructions — listing the combination of
chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and mayonnaise on a bun to create a
sandwich is quite plainly not a copyrightable work," Chief Judge Jeffrey
Howard wrote in his ruling. "The name of the food item is also not
copyrightable, because copyright protection cannot be extended to words
and short phrases, such as names, titles, and slogans."
But while food can’t be copyrighted, some drink recipes can. For
instance, any Dark ‘n Stormy made without Gosling’s Black Seal
rum and ginger beer violates the trademark that the Bermuda-based rum
distillery owns – and actively protects, Marissa Fessenden writes
for Smithsonian Magazine’s Smart News. If Colón wants to copyright
a recipe, he may want to take a mixology course instead.
|
|
