Introduction

In this case before the Multi-member Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki, the plaintiff requested judicial protection of his recipes (ie, dishes and seasonings) as works of IP.(1) He made this request on grounds including trademark law and unfair competition law. However, the Court rejected the action as:

• not legal, insofar as it concerned the protection of recipes as works of intellectual property; and
• unfounded, because recipes are assimilated to ideas and not to works enjoying copyrights protection under Greek (and EU) law.

Facts

The plaintiff was a chef, working for many years in the field of recipe research, development and innovation. He worked for large companies, active worldwide in the food industry, which specialised in the design and development of recipes and culinary products for industrial use.

In 2017, he met the first defendant, a high-ranking executive in an international food-industry company. The plaintiff and the first defendant set up a company (the second defendant) with the objective of trading recipes and spice mixes for mass consumption. The third defendant was a company active in the field of processing, packaging and trading spices and herbs, and in the production and trading of spice mixes, intended for a variety of cuisines. The third defendant was licensed to produce and market the disputed foods and spices under its own name and at its own expense, paying a fixed fee to the plaintiff for each individual product sold.

The...

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