new food product

[helpmeee]

What is the name of your state? n/a... Canada, but shouldn't make a difference.

I have created a new food product which everyone tells me I should sell or produce on my own. what if I wanted to just mail the recipe to a company to try and sell it, what would I have to do to make sure they couldn't steal it? would it help if I made a copy of the letter and mailed it to myself to leave it sealed just incase, proving that it is infact my recipe? do I need a patent first? and can they change the recipe to a certain degree and legally call it their own recipe?
sorry for all the questions, I've just been thinking about this a lot lately. I would really appreciate any replies. thankyou

 

[divgradcurl]

Sealing an envelope and sending it to yourself -- the "poor man's copyright" -- won't help you here because you can't copyright a recipe.

If you are really concerned about having your recipe stolen, you might want to consider not sending it a company until after you've signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) -- you'll probably want to talk with a lawyer to draft and NDA, but this is probably your best for protection in this case.

 

[divgradcurl]

Didn't notice that your state is "Canada" -- sorry, my answer is for the U.S., and it certainly will make a difference if you are in Canada.

 

[atozcom]

Most company will not accept unsolicited "ideas" for evalution. They don't want to get in to legal battle with you in the future. 10 year from now they may develope something similar and you may sue them for "copying" what you shown them.

Unless you are a proven success, you don't have to worry about big company to copy your stuff. They don't have time to do that.

You will have to be a success yourself, on your own, and they may found interest in your product. They will then either copy your stuff or buy you out.

Why should they spend their money for something unproven?

Idea and receipes worth nothing. It is the implementation (cooking) that makes the difference.

Anybody can talk about recipe, but only a few cook well.