Question

You are the manager of Gamecock Chicken franchise and are presented with the following facts:

Rooster Fil A has a world-famous dipping sauce called Cock a Doodle Doo sauce. Some people claim that they only buy the chicken for the sauce. The dipping sauce is a combination of 10 herbs and spices with a mayonnaise base. Rooster calls it “their secret sauce.” Rooster’s competitor, Gamecock Chicken, sent an employee to try and watch Rooster make the sauce. The Gamecock employee sat in the dining area and could visibly see the Rooster employee add 9 identifiable spices to the mayonnaise but could not see the 10th. The Gamecock employee then went back to his own shop and attempted to recreate the recipe. After several attempts, Gamecock figured out the missing spice and began to market their sauce as “Something to Crow About.” Rooster brought an action for misappropriation of a trade secret. Will they be successful?

Answer 1

This is a quite common case where competitors try to copy /steal the recipe of any well known dishes. It is difficult to always protect the recipe.

My opinion in this case is to look whether the recipe had any patent or trademark or copyrights on it. If the Rooster only considers it as a trade secret that was violated then there is a chance that their case will probably backfire as there wasn't any patent or copyright registered to it. If the Gamecock Chicken has used same name of the sauce, then that would have made another strong point at court from Rooster's side. But since Gamecock Chicken has changed the name, they cannot sue for stealing the entire dish.

But just to be on the safe side, it is advised that to make any small changes in the copied recipe in such a way that the taste doesn't change much or in a way that the taste gets better. This way Gamecock Chicken will have a valid point that the recipe they use is not the same as used by Rooster.

And looking at this matter from the viewpoint of Rooster, they just would be a little disappointed that their recipe was copied and hence bringing the action for misappropriation of trade secret. If they decide to continue with the case, then they too would be aware that the process for that is too slow and they would have to wait for a long time to know the decision of the court. Hence, mostly they won't move forward with the case. And it is always adviced to have a healthy competition with others in the market and so not to instigate anything so changing the recipe a bit or giving the recipe a better twist from your side to make it better than the original one.