Is there any proof yet, one way or the other, as to the authenticity of the menu and its existence at the function?

No.

post 58 first sentence was for post 56, incase there is any misunderstanding.

IF the menu is fake.

IF no harm has been done to the owner's reputation or his business.

ummmm The recipe for Coke does have a copy right and a trademark.

ummmm Theft, Defamation, Passing off

ummmm The recipe for Coke does have a copy right and a trademark.

WRONG

A trade secret is appropriate when it's difficult to copy a product. This may include the construction or forumulation of the product or the process of manufacturing the product when reverse engineering is unlikely.

Treating your IP as a trade secret is also appropriate if your IP is unlikely to result in a registrable right or if you want to retain exclusive use beyond the term of a patent.

The best known example of a trade secret is that of the Coca-Cola recipe. The company has used trade secrets to keep its formula from becoming public over a period of decades. It never applied for patent protection, so it was never required to disclose the formula. One disadvantage is that trade secrets do not provide any legal security against an independent competitor inventing an identical object.

http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/other-types-of-IP/confidentiality-trade-secrets/

I learnt the above at Uni, didn't you?

I learned similar to this

A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers. In some jurisdictions, such secrets are referred to as "confidential information", but are generally not referred to as "classified information"

That doesn't change you were wrong about Coca Cola formula being a trade secret.

Also what you posted above for trade secrets doesn't apply to a fake menu, or even a normal menu. They are not secret or classified.

Any customer can read and copy the menu on their phone/ipad. Menus are sometimes stuck on the front door/in the window for everyone passing by to read if they choose to.

I used the word recipe incorrectly, I am sorry.

However Coke does have a trademark and it does have a patent from 1866 and Coke was trademarked in 1944

That doesn't change you were wrong about Coca Cola formula being a trade secret.   Also what you posted above for trade secrets doesn't apply to a fake menu, or even a normal menu. They are not secret or classified.   Any customer can read and copy the menu on their phone/ipad. Menus are sometimes stuck on the front door/in the window for everyone passing by to read if they choose to.

ahhhh, however was this menu intended for public distribution. No doubt the creators of the menus stuck on the front door etc are there with the permission of the owner.

Tell Stephanie Alexander or Gordon Ramsay or any of the hundred other chefs who receive royalties from their menus and recipe books LOLOLOL.

People make a living from writing menus freelance, and trust me, they don't take kindly to other people taking their work without payment 😉

Just because I can read a book in the store, does not mean that it is mine to redistribute as I please until I pay for it.

Are you confusing the brand name with the coca cola formula?

Do you understand why they never patented the formula? 

Why Coca-Cola Will Never Patent Its Formula

Coca-Cola’s decision to use a trade secret versus a patent has lead to its success today

http://www.pellegrinoandassociates.com/why-coca-cola-will-never-patent-its-formula/