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Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

bbc.com

61–70 of 90 posts

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with that personally, having a trademark for a particular colour is clearly a dubious concept.

I'm not so sure, when it's an integral part of the brand (Cadbury purple for example) I think it's justified.

Since you have a limited number of colours on a computer, isn't that just a trademark on a number? And to go a bit further, what's the difference between the Cadbury purple and a purple so close that you can't tell the difference visually?

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#62
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cooking recipes aren't protected as far as I remember so it would have been surprising to protect the end result.

They are under Australian copyright law

Kinda, sorta, but not in the way most people think.

> Copyright does not protect information about the ingredients or cooking methods.

> It is not an infringement of copyright to watch someone prepare a dish and write down the ingredients and method in your own words.

What's copyrighted, is the word-for-word original reference. If you reword it, then that's free to disseminate.

It isn't what people think of as a recipe - the ingredients and methods involved. It's just that particular copy of the ingredients and methods involved.

[0] https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod/ACC/Information_Sheets...

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure, when it's an integral part of the brand (Cadbury purple for example) I think it's justified.

Since you have a limited number of colours on a computer, isn't that just a trademark on a number? And to go a bit further, what's the difference between the Cadbury purple and a purple so close that you can't tell the difference visually?

Most trademarks on colours refer directly to a Pantone colour, so far as I'm aware.

A Pantone colour will list the required method to create an item with that colour. That is, the mixes required to create it for printing on paper, or for dying clothes, etc.

It's more detailed than just a number.

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#64
post #44

It's also worth noting that Heksenkaas is a ridiculously overpriced product, which probably explains why they are trying so hard to keep the competition at bay.

I've bought it on sale, but it's just not that appealing. Definitely overpriced.

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#65
post #21
post #2

Funny the article made no mention of smell, which one might suspect would be treated in a similar way.

Makes me wonder, is there any formal representation for smells like we have with colors?

You could just specify the chemicals and their proportions in air.

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#68
post #16

CopyRighteousness strikes again, how long will it take before someone could copyright the air?

Quite the opposite: the EU found that you cannot copyright food tastes.

Yes, sure. Just shows that their lobbying was ineffective, better luck next time.

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#69
post #21
post #2

Funny the article made no mention of smell, which one might suspect would be treated in a similar way.

Makes me wonder, is there any formal representation for smells like we have with colors?

I’m not a trademark lawyer, but I used to work with them in the UK. From what I recall, trademarks need to described in language accessible to ‘everyman’ to be protectable. So when I was there, about 5 years ago, I don’t recall that there had been a successful bid to trademark a smell because a gas chromatograph didn’t fit the bill.

Re: Food taste 'not protected by copyright' rules EU court

#70

It's somewhat unfortunate that the ruling merely reasons that it wouldn't be practically possible, rather than reasoning that such a copyright would be a burden on society without any real gain.

Isn't that a stronger argument? The reason you aren't allowed to hunt unicorns is that they don't exist, not that they are sentient creatures.
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