Back in September, we wrote about a somewhat angry bartender who has been complainiing about how bartenders should be given special intellectual property rights over new drink creations they come up with. We explained at the time what a silly idea that was, and now Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman -- two law professors who have been doing tremendously good work showing all the areas where creativity and innovation thrive sans copyright protections -- have stepped up to discuss the question of copyright in cocktails. Once again, they highlight that there's little, if any, evidence of the need for such a special right. In fact, they note that there's been an amazing burst in creativity in drinks over the past few years. They point out that since each cocktail is handcrafted, and can vary based on who's making it, it's pretty silly to limit a certain mix to only one bartender. Furthermore, they note that (with the exception of that one angry bartender, Eben Freeman) the general culture around bartending is for bartenders to share and exchange drink ideas, so that they can learn from each other and improve on each other's works.

As an aside, the article introduced me to a concept I had not heard of before and now (tragically) cannot erase from my mind: the McNuggetini. You can watch the video below, but I warn you ahead of time, you're probably much better off in life if you don't: