Can you copyright a recipe?

Not the recipe itself. The Copyright Office states that a mere listing of ingredients is not protectable, and the method is excluded as a procedure under 17 USC 102(b). Substantial literary expression around it — descriptions, technique discussion, narrative — is protected, as are photographs and the arrangement of a cookbook as a compilation.

How is the Coca-Cola formula protected?

As a trade secret, not by copyright or patent. Trade secret protection covers the formula itself and lasts indefinitely, but only while it stays secret and reasonable steps are taken to keep it that way. A patent would have required publishing the formula and would have expired decades ago.

Can I stop someone selling a dish from my recipe?

Generally no. Recipes and cooking methods are unprotectable, so anyone may cook and sell the result. What they cannot do is copy your written description or photographs, or use your dish or restaurant name if you hold it as a trademark. The name is usually the enforceable asset.

Trademark vs Copyright for a Recipe

Key takeaways

A mere listing of ingredients is not copyrightable. The Copyright Office states this directly.
Substantial literary expression around it is — descriptions, explanations, illustrations, the collection as a whole.
Trademark covers the dish or brand name, not the recipe.
Trade secret is the real protection for a formula worth protecting, and it requires secrecy.

The short answer

You cannot own a recipe. You can own how you wrote it up, what you call it, and — if you never publish it — the formula as a secret.

What copyright does not cover

The Copyright Office's position is unambiguous: a mere listing of ingredients or contents is not subject to copyright protection. Nor is the underlying procedure, which is a method of operation excluded by 17 USC 102(b).

So anyone may lawfully take your recipe, follow it, cook it commercially, and publish the ingredients and steps in their own words. This is why recipes circulate freely and why food blogs converge on the same dishes.

What copyright does cover

Substantial literary expression — headnotes, descriptions, explanations, technique discussion, personal narrative
Photographs and illustrations
A compilation — the original selection, coordination and arrangement of recipes in a cookbook

The compilation right is the meaningful one for cookbook authors. The individual recipes may be unprotectable, but your particular selection and arrangement of them can be.

The corollary explains an oddity of food writing: the long personal preamble before every online recipe exists partly because the story is copyrightable and the ingredient list is not.

What trademark covers

The name of a dish, product or restaurant, used as a brand. This can be genuinely valuable — a signature dish name that customers seek out is a protectable asset even though the recipe behind it is not.

Registration is $350 per class; food products typically fall in class 29 or 30, restaurant services in class 43.

Trade dress may also protect a distinctive plating or packaging presentation, subject to the usual non-functionality requirement.

Trade secret: the real answer

The formulas that are actually protected in the food industry are protected as trade secrets. Coca-Cola's formula is the standard illustration, and it works precisely because it was never published or patented.

Trade secret protection covers the formula itself — the thing copyright cannot reach — indefinitely, provided:

It has commercial value from not being generally known
You take reasonable steps to keep it secret
It is not independently discovered or reverse-engineered

The trade-off is total. Publish the recipe and the protection ends permanently, with no way to recover it.

Side by side

	Copyright	Trademark	Trade secret
Ingredient list	No	No	Yes, if secret
The method	No	No	Yes, if secret
Written description	Yes	No	No
Photographs	Yes	No	No
Cookbook arrangement	Yes, as a compilation	No	No
Dish or brand name	No	Yes	No
Duration	Life + 70, or 95 years	Indefinite with use	While secret
Survives publication	Yes	Yes	No

Where a timestamp fits

For anyone relying on trade secret protection, the obligation is to show you took reasonable steps to keep the formula secret — and, in a dispute, to show what the formula was and when you had it, without disclosing it to establish the point.

That is an unusually good match for a hash-based timestamp. The formula is hashed on your own machine and only the hash is transmitted, so the record proves you held that exact document on that date while the document itself never leaves your control. Disclosing a trade secret in order to prove you owned it would defeat the purpose.

It proves existence and integrity, not authorship or ownership, and it is not a substitute for the confidentiality discipline that trade secret protection actually requires — NDAs, access controls, and not publishing it.

US law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Trademark vs copyright for a recipe