Blogs

Posted on behalf of Alix Claps

Elizabeth LaBau of SugarHero.com has filed suit against the Food Network in the Central District of California for copyright infringement related to her 2014 Snow Globe Cupcakes Video.  As Copyright & Trademark students know, recipes, being functional lists of ingredients and instructions rather than artistic expressions in a fixed form, are not copyrightable.  However, the U.S. Copyright Office does recognize that the “expression” of a recipe – “a description, explanation, or illustration” – may be copyrightable. So, while the recipe for chocolate chip cookies wouldn’t be copyrightable, the layout of it in a cookbook with an accompanying photo would be. 

What the Central District of California will have to determine is whether LaBau’s instructional video is protected and, subsequently, whether Food Network’s later explanation video is infringing.  LaBau’s complaint claims that the “Food Network video copied numerous copyrightable elements of Plaintiff’s work precisely, including but not limited to choices of shots, camera angles, color, and lighting, textual descriptors, and other artistic and expressive elements of Plaintiff’s work.”  LaBau is also claiming that as a result, Food Network was the beneficiary of attention and revenue that would otherwise have gone to her, which may be the most difficult hurdle of all.

The full suit can be found at: https://www.scribd.com/document/350102289/Sugar-Hero-v-Food-Network#from_embed

 Additional coverage can be found at:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/food-network-sued-snow-globe-cupcakes-how-video-1009511

http://jezebel.com/food-blogger-sues-food-network-over-viral-cupcake-video-1795739053