Is It Legal to Copycat Restaurant Recipes?

There is a proliferation of books, both print and electronic (downloadable from the web), that claim to tell you how to copy your favorite dishes from your favorite restaurants. Some of them are better than others, but they all beg the question: is it legal to "copy" recipes in this way?

Nowadays, as the music industry attacks people who use file sharing services to illegally post songs for others to copy, and with prominent FBI copy warnings stuck to it. every movie DVD we rent or buy is a natural matter. People wonder if they are breaking a law by cloning a restaurant's most famous recipe - whether it's passing on the directions or cooking it and serving it to friends.

Be careful, I am not a lawyer. But I spoke to a few lawyer friends as well as a number of restaurant managers. The bottom line is this: If you're cooking your favorite (or whatever) steak or lobster dish copied from Big Name Restaurant - even if it's an exact copy - you don't have to worry. that a SWAT team will break your door. and take you away. An army of lawyers will not descend into your kitchen either.

Now, if you decide to open your own restaurant with dishes copied from well-known restaurant chains, and if you're not subtle enough to give them the same names as the originals, you could have problems with your hands! Outside of this unlikely scenario, you are probably safe. But we're not talking about doing business with other people's recipes here, are we? (If you are considering something like this, you really need to consult a lawyer.)

Cooking for friends can be fun. It can be more fun if you serve them food that looks exactly like their favorite restaurant. If this is your intention and you do it in a private setting, you can rest assured about the law. The only question then becomes, which dish do I want to clone, and where can I get a real recipe?