Cupcake (Video) Wars
Food blogger Elizabeth LaBau sued Food Network for copying her cupcake video.
In December 2014, Elizabeth LaBau developed and published a recipe on her blog SugarHero for edible “snow globe cupcakes.” The recipe involved using gelatin sheets and water balloons to create edible “globes” to place atop cupcakes. After the recipe went viral in 2015, LaBau created a video showing how the cupcakes are made and posted it online in December 2016. LaBau now claims that three weeks after her video was posted, the Food Network posted a similar video on its Facebook page in violation of her copyright rights.
While recipes are generally not protected under copyright law, protection can extend to an illustration or literary expression of the recipe. The US Copyright Office offers the following guidance on protecting recipes:
Copyright law does not protect recipes that are mere listings of ingredients. Nor does it protect other mere listings of ingredients such as those found in formulas, compounds, or prescriptions. Copyright protection may, however, extend to substantial literary expression—a description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a recipe or formula or to a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook. https://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html
The complaint filed alleges that, in addition to copying her video “shot-for-shot,” the Food Network video also copied “camera angles, colors, and lighting, textual descriptors, and other artistic and expressive elements of Plaintiff’s work” -- all in violation of her copyright rights.
GrubStreet --- A Blogger Is Suing Food Network for Allegedly Copying Her Viral Cupcake Video. By Clint Rainey http://www.grubstreet.com/2017/06/blogger-sues-food-network-for-stealing-snow-globe-cupcakes.html
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