I Can Appreciate The Man That Sued For 10 Million Dollars In An Attempt To Copyright A Chicken Sandwich

Source- There are many things you can copyright, but a chicken sandwich is not one of them, a US appeals court panel ruled Friday.

Because of the ruling, a former employee of a fried chicken franchise is not entitled to a percentage of the profits from a sandwich he "authored," wrote Chief Judge Jeffrey Howard in the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The plaintiff, Norberto Colón Lorenzana, had filed a complaintseeking "All the earnings produced by his creation"—an amount not less than $10 million.

"The sandwich consists of a fried chicken breast patty, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, and garlic mayonnaise on a bun," the judge wrote. Colón had claimed that both the recipe and the name of the so-called Pechu Sandwich "is a creative work, of which he is the author," the judge noted.

Colón failed to persuade a district court, which pointed out that the Copyright Act protects works of authorship in eight categories, none of which includes chicken breasts placed between two slices of bread. The appeals court upheld the ruling.

"A recipe—or any instructions—listing the combination of chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and mayonnaise on a bun to create a sandwich is quite plainly not a copyrightable work," Howard wrote. The name of the food item is also not copyrightable, because copyright protection cannot be extended to "words and short phrases, such as names, titles, and slogans," Howard wrote.



I think we can all agree that frivolous lawsuits are just another phenomenon that are contributing to the downfall of society. I can't even imagine the money and man hours that have been wasted in taking nonsensical arguments to the judicial system. With that said, we have spent about 6 months talking about the air pressure in a football, so we have set a a pretty terrible precedent. A precedent that inevitably embraces a person's right to have their day in court, no matter how absurd their claim.

You want to hate the man that is trying to copyright a chicken sandwich for $10 million dollars than I can't fault you, but I certainly can disagree. Outside of any success financially, having your own sandwich is like the pinnacle of manhood. Now, imagine if that sandwich happened to be a staple on every American dining menu in the country. Sure, the chances of winning that lawsuit are next to nothing, but do you know why frivolous lawsuits have become a problem? Because sometimes people find a loophole. Sometimes some dumb broad, with no hand eye coordination, dumps scoring hot coffee on herself and walks away a millionaire. For every 1,000 cases that get thrown on to the scrap heap after being laughed out of court, there's always one that unites a fool and his unearned money. If the reward is $10 million dollars and the ability to call any ordinary chicken sandwich your own, then the risk of lawyer fees and a day in court is well worth it. Even if the panel of judges that presided over this ruling did waste a day where they could have been overseeing something important. If the system is broken then it's our duty as citizens to purge it for all it's worth until someone decides to fix it. Trying make 8 figures off a $2 sandwich is just the American way of achieving the American dream.

(Insert relevant 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' clips here)