Germany Says Taking Photos Of Food Infringes The Chef's Copyright

xPertCodert writes: According to this article in Der Welt (Google translate from German), in Germany if you take a picture of a dish in a restaurant without prior permission, you are violating chef's copyright for his creation and can be liable to pay a hefty fine. If this approach to foodporn will become universal, what will we put in our Instagrams? Techdirt reports: "Apparently, this situation goes back to a German court judgment from 2013, which widened copyright law to include the applied arts too. As a result, the threshold for copyrightability was lowered considerably, with the practical consequence that it was easier for chefs to sue those who posted photographs of their creations without permission. The Die Welt article notes that this ban can apply even to manifestly unartistic piles of food dumped unceremoniously on a plate if a restaurant owner puts up a notice refusing permission for photos to be taken of its food."

Comments

Re:Move it around first .... simple!

[wonkey_monkey]

a derrivative work

I had a later stage of the process in mind, but sure, that works too.

Stop smiling for photos

[Dunbal]

Extending this logically - if someone takes a photograph of you smiling, your dentist can sue you for copyright infringement if you have any fillings that are visible in the picture. Well done, Germany. Only the English would have no fear.