I can't speak for Nicko, but I'll give you the idea from an author's point-of-view (I have friends who are published authors who complain about copyright violations, so I've heard quite a bit about it).
If someone is trying to make a buck or two from selling their recipes, you shouldn't give it away for free after buying/reading the book. That someone can't sell his/her recipes if others are taking them and giving them away on the internet.
That said, if you take a recipe and change it, it is no longer that someone's recipe. You have made it yours. Because it is yours, you can give it away for free. Just don't tell everyone how you changed the original so that they can tell what that was.
Also, some recipes are "public domain" much like a cliché would be. How to make a basic créme anglaise, for instance, can't be copyrighted. It is already general knowledge, just like the cliché "soft as silk" can't be copyrighted as it is already in general use. |