Artful, meticulously crafted photos of food are a ubiquitous site on Instagram. It's impossible to scroll through your feed and not come across a picture of something delicious. However, it seems all this #FoodPorn may be illegal according to German law.
German website thelocal has just reported that the German Federal Court has expanded copyright laws to include 'elaborately arranged' food. The new laws stipulate that these meals are the 'artistic property' of its creator. This means that 'regramming' a photo of someone else's plate of Eggs Benedict or bowl of Ramen could put you in breach of intellectual property laws.
Dr. Niklas Haberkamm told newspaper Die Welt, "An elaborately arranged dish in a restaurant can be a copyright-protected work, In such a case, the creator of the work has the right to decide where and to what extent the work can be reproduced."
According to Anwalt.de, another German website, the food covered by the law is denoted by the 'advanced level' of the meal's preparation. This means snapping a picture of a random hamburger or bag of chips should not put you in breach. The problem would arise if you dined at a fancy Michelin-starred restaurant and started taking snaps of the intricately assembled dishes.
Haberkamm says "Even if no copyright infringement has occurred, the restaurant owner is legally allowed, by householder's rights, to forbid customers taking photos of food,"
To throw caution to the wind Anwalt.de suggests: "If you want to be absolutely on the safe side, you should probably ask the host or the chef."
So there you have it. Food bloggers making the rounds in Germany may have to be extra cautious when planning their next #foodporn posts. Is the Geman government right to do this? or is this just a massive overreaction. We'll have to wait and see.
