QUESTION
Can my employer keep my recipes?
Asked on Nov 06th, 2013 on Intellectual Property - Washington
More details to this question:
I was laid off from my job as chef and when I told them I was taking my recipes, I was told that they made copies and that they were the intellectual property of the company if they were created when I worked there. I signed no agreement to this effect. I'd like them to stop using my recipes immediately. A lot of the recipes I brought to the job I had already created. Some were created while I worked there. Do I have any rights to get them to stop using them now that I am no longer working there?
1 ANSWER
Intellectual Property Attorney serving Manchester, NH
at
Hayes Soloway P.C.
Update Your Profile
By and large, recipes can only be protected as trade secrets. Protecting trade secrets requires keeping the information confidential and only sharing it with people who owe you a duty of confidence, such as through a non-disclosure agreement. If you do not have any employment agreement, I do not know of a legal vehicle either of you could use to keep the other from using the recipes going forward.
Here is an example of a recipe being protected (note the confidentiality efforts): http://blogs.orrick.com/trade-secrets-watch/2013/10/31/halloween-edition-cookie-maker-gets-early-treat-when-court-protects-halloween-cookie-recipe-as-a-trade-secret-2/#more-492
Answered on Nov 07th, 2013 at 9:47 AM