Can I protect restaurant's menu from being copied?

[teeradejk]

The menu at my father's restaurant has a unique design/layout; as a result, it has been copied by a few other restaurants in town. Can I protect the menu from being copied by other people? If I can, how do I go about doing that? I'm in North Carolina.

Thanks for your advice,

TK

 

[ALawyer]

I doubt that a design patent would have been possible, and if the design has been out a year, that would bar any patent.

While the words and possibly the graphic elements are copyrightable, the process for enforcement is tough.