The Bold Premise and False Promise of Copyrighted Crypto Cocktails

Intellectual Property (IP) attorney Daniel Barsky was cited in a VinePair article exploring the idea of using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to establish ownership of cocktail recipes and provide copyright protections for mixologists. A longtime complaint in the industry is that it is nearly impossible to legally protect new drink recipes, and some have turned to NFTs and the blockchain as a way to authenticate recipes and monetize creations more effectively. However, complicating this potential solution are the interchangeable nature of cocktail production and the difficulty in determining whether the owner of a recipe on the blockchain is its true creator. Mr. Barsky commented that he doubts the efficacy of such an approach, saying he expects NFTs to become another marketing tool for mixologists instead of a means of IP protection.

"I don't think that an NFT is going to somehow convert [recipes] into being protectable," he explained. "Anybody who's got a different take on that, I would point them to the fact that the U.S. copyright law is U.S. copyright law, and will be no matter what new technology is created...I see NFTs as being another line of marketable, saleable material that can go along with new cocktail recipes."

READ: The Bold Premise and False Promise of Copyrighted Crypto Cocktails