Message 1800 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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> I have created many of my own cocktails and have done checks to see 
> that no one else has made them yet. But now i am at a stand still. I 
> want to make the cocktail mine officially but i don't know how to go 
> about doing that. Do i have to patent or copywrite it or something. 
> Any help would be much appreciated.
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For one thing, I rarely recommend that people focus on creating new cocktail 
recipes. There is little fame, glory, or recognition in it. If you are capable 
of creating truely great "new" cocktails, then your recognition will come from 
the "sum" of the cocktails that you offer, not the individual specific drinks 
you might create. The difference is between:

"Iain down at Truffle makes a great Quadfarb cocktail, let's go have one"

and

"Let's go down to Truffle's and see what great cocktail Iain is serving this 
week."

In the first it is the drink that is getting all the attention, in the second 
it is the bartender who is being recognized.

People like Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim, Audrey Saunders, Eben Klemm, are 
not known for individual recipe contributions, but for their overall scope of 
work and ability.

...but back to your question...

There is no patent or copyright process for recipes (cocktail, or otherwise).

The best way to be able to signify "ownership" of your cocktails, is to "get 
published". This could be in the form of having your cocktail listed in some 
upcoming cocktail recipe book, in which they would indicate yourself as the 
originator of it, or it could be in the form of a magazine article which you, 
or somebody else, might write which showcased your cocktails.

I assume you are a bartender at a bar/restaurant, so you should (if you 
haven't already) at least make sure that your cocktails get listed on the 
specialty drink menu for the bar, with appropriate indication of the origins 
of the drink... and make sure that other bartenders around the city know how 
to make it as well... if nobody else is serving it, then nobody else knows 
about it. And when you see it listed on the bar menu in other bars, be sure to 
thank the bartender for listing it, and politely indicate that you created it.

You "could" attempt to trademark the name (and recipe). But this would not be 
recommended. To do so would mean that you would be legally obligated to look 
for anybody who might be serving this drink, using that name, without having 
arranged for specific permission from you. If you were to fail to demonstrate 
a dilligence at tracking down abusers, you would essentially give up the 
trademark. This is why the Tropical Isle bar in New Orleans is so diligent 
about the "Hand Grenade" drink... it's not because they are mean and cruel, 
but because once they went down the "trademark" route, they had no choice.

-Robert
 www.DrinkBoy.com