James M. Singer was featured in The New Food Economy article "Can I Patent my Recipe?" Full text can be found in the November 11, 2015, issue, but a synopsis is below.
In the article, Fox Rothschild's James Singer shares basic information on patent issues for individuals who are interested in obtaining one for recipes.
One of the problems that can arise with patenting recipes is the fact that it has to be novel and issues may come about if the food created by the recipe is being distributed or displayed in public.
According to Singer, "You can't patent something that you have been selling or serving others for a number of years or that anybody else has been selling or serving to others for a number of years."
Also, the item must be non-obvious which Singer points to a cheeseburger as an example.
"If the patent office did a search and they found that the hamburger existed and the grilled cheese sandwich existed, they may come back and say, well it's obvious to put those two things together."
Singer continues by offering an alternative to obtain a degree of intellectual property by explaining a design patent which provides the owner with a 15-year monopoly.
"A design patent is actually a relatively low cost way to obtain some type of intellectual property coverage on a product because it doesn't require an attorney to draft pages of technical description, it just requires a few drawings," says Singer.
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