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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."
Move the items on the plate around a bit, then it becomes your own work or a derrivative work.
--- To save space, would readers please insert their own witty comment -here-
So we can't take a picture in a restaurant if it shows the food because of the chef's copyright. There are already moves to say that you cannot take photographs in a street without the building's architect's permission. What next - photograps of people wearing clothes infringing the designer's permission? Soon we will only be able to take photographs of people in the nude in a wilderness (not farmland, the farmer's neatly trimmed hedgerows, fences, and dry-stone walls hold a copyright too).
Why would they sue in the first place? and miss out on free publicity
It's probably the pictures of their less attractive dishes they are worried about. The "look, this chicken was served to me at XXXX and it's still raw inside" posts you see on facebook.
Anything exposing the ridiculousness of copyright is welcome.
As a kid, I thought "that's my idea!" was childish playground talk. As a student, I learned that publishing and sharing was key to advancing science and culture. In the commercial world, I felt I was back in the playground.
Still, the new rule here will be that you know a restaurant is bad when nobody is allowed to photo the food.
Basically, no photos will be allowed in a German restaurant because food might be in the photos.
If I owned a restaurant in Germany, I would post a sign, "Photos Allowed."
I have read TFA (and no, I am most certainly not new here) and it is full of hypothetical blah blah. Basically, some lawyer thinks that when the food has been artistically arranged, one has to ask the chef first before making photos, or one possibly might receive a cease-and-desist letter if the chef sees the photo and is in the mood for writing one. Never happened so far but maybe possibly might happen some day. Also can happen if the eating place owner generally doesn't allow taking photos.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
So just move the food around a bit.. It is now your own creative work.. And take your photo.
The chicken is cut open? That was you.. Not the chef.
Send like a non story.. Could only be applied for a picture of an untouched plate..
The food was cooked to order on behalf of the customer. There is an implied transfer of ownership and all rights from the restaurant (or chef) to the customer, hence the customer is allowed to destroy the chef's work without being sued.
If the chef wanted to retain artistic copyright of his work, then he should have got the customer to sign a contract.
Sounds like a derivative work to me.
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.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I'm not familiar with German copyright law, but there are precedents in other countries that allow artists to use copyright on art that they've sold to prevent its destruction.
If Germany grants similar rights under copyright law, that would mean that the chef could not only prevent photos from being taken, but could refuse to let the diner eat the food or even move it around on the plate since it's now copyrighted.
WTF. Did you really bring a camera into my restaurant? I'm calling the cops. BTW, how did you make it past security with that thing? The head waiter should have found it when he patted you down. Needless to say, no, you won't be putting this on youtube, because the waiter's uniform and my chef hat are copyrighted. You'll at least have to crop those out. Oh, and my barber says you need to blur out my moustache if you use this conversation in your video, too. (No, your video can't have my restaurant's tables and chairs in it; the supply company was very clear about their IP.) Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, and obviously I don't need to tell you why you can't show the door, because even if the door itself weren't copyrighted, it also happens to have our business-hours sign on it...
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