Carlton Fields intellectual property attorney Steve Sidman was quoted in an Eater article titled, “Whose Dish Is It Anyway?” discussing whether chefs have legal rights to recipes that they’ve created while employed at restaurants and other culinary businesses.
In the age of chef personalities and subsequent book deals, media appearances, and social media followings, culinary professionals struggle with how to protect signature dishes tied to a particular chef when that chef leaves the restaurant where the food was served.
Some say that recipes belong with chefs and should be considered a trade secret, while others say that recipes belong to restaurant, as part of a “work for hire” defense.
Sidman shares that both claims are not necessarily legally defensible.
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