For those of you who take pictures of meals, and even post them here or elsewhere, here's a warning
from The Local Germany:
Instagrammers and foodies beware: snapping pics of scrumptious snacks in Germany could leave you facing a lawsuit for copyright infringement by the chef, a lawyer has warned.
#FoodPorn is a widely recognized tag on social media for ridiculously mouth-watering food images ^ but according to a report by Die Welt, food bloggers across Germany could find themselves up against the law when they photograph and upload their meals.
A 2013 Federal Court of Justice ruling expanded copyright protections to apply to elaborately arranged food, making it the artistic property of its creator. That means that anyone wanting to post a pic of the work of culinary art may have to ask permission first.
"An elaborately arranged dish in a restaurant can be a copyright-protected work," explained Dr. Niklas Haberkamm, partner at corporate law firm Lampmann, Haberkamm & Rosenbaum (LHR) to Welt.
"In such a case, the creator of the work has the right to decide where and to what extent the work can be reproduced," he said.
The aim of copyright is to protect an individual creation. And it doesn't matter whether the action ^ for example; reproduction, propagation, or making an image publicly available ^ is intended for commercial use or not, reports Welt.
German legal services website Anwalt.de wrote in a post about food porn on Thursday that whether a meal is considered art depends on the advanced level of the meal's design, so snapping a selfie with your French fries from a food stand is not going to be the problem - it's when you go to more refined, world-rated establishments.
In theory, punishment for infringement of copyright could be serious with out-of-court settlements potentially exceeding hundreds of euros. And if court proceedings are brought against an unlucky photographer, the costs could be in the thousands.
Until now, no case has actually been recorded of a chef or restaurateur filing a complaint for infringement of copyright. But it could well happen sooner or later, reports Welt.
This seems to only apply in Germany, and even then only in legal theory. But it may spread.
You might expect it to have started in France, home of the cook as artist and national champion, and of
droit de suite, but I've just seen it reported with some amazement (and amusement) on French TV. We'll see if anyone wants to pursue it there.
Without knowing anything about the case the court's ruling applied to, it is hard to know if this is over-reported or a real case of lawyers being silly, as it appears. I suspect another instance of judges forgetting that making laws is someone else's job, and:
"It's disgraceful! There ought to be a law against it!"
"Well, there isn't."
"But look - if I stretch this law over here really, really, hard it will just about reach without going ping!"
The alternative of too much listening to Goon Shows is less plausible.
