Sandwiches Not Copyrightable

In 1987 Norberto Colón Lorenzana spiced up the menu of Puerto Rico’s Church’s Chicken with the “Pechu Sandwich,” a fried chicken item that became wildly popular. But Lorenzana waited 24 years to sue Church’s Chicken and the South American Restaurant Corporation, claiming his intellectual property had been used to the tune of $10 million in damages. The case was struck down by Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jeffrey Howard, who wrote in his decision that, “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. … 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.”