Gastrophysics and Intellectual Property Law: Analyzing the Legal and Market Effects of a Reimagined Form of Culinary Art and Science

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

South Carolina Law Review

Abstract

In 2014, University of Montana Law Professor Cathay Y.N. Smith published an article with the John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law on food plating, the art of food presentation, and its implications in intellectual property law. In that article, she proposes three questions: (1) whether artistic food plating could fulfill copyright's requirement of being an original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression containing artistic aspects separable from its utilitarian functions; (2) whether artistic food plating could function as protectable trade dress that is nonfunctional and able to acquire secondary meaning; and (3) whether artistic food plating could be protectable as new, original, ornamental, and nonobvious design patent. She concluded that a chef may not be able to copyright her artistic food presentation because of copyright law's fixation and conceptual separability requirements, but-in limited circumstances-a chef may be able to claim trademark protection of a signature dish, or apply for a design patent for her ornamental plating arrangement. This particular article, as well as many others4 that discuss the relationship between intellectual property and food design, does not take into consideration the emerging study of gastrophysics, in which food plating plays a small part.5 My law review article with the Wake Forest Journal of Business & Intellectual Property, discusses how the gastrophysics concept of sonic seasoning has affected the craft beer industry, and the ways in which intellectual property law can have a pivotal role to play. However, in light of the evolving trends and trajectories of how this science can be best understood, this Article hopes to discuss the concept of gastrophysics as a whole and a few legal implications it may bring regarding commercialization and the intellectual property protection of food design.

First Page

471

Last Page

494

Publication Date

Winter 2023

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