Copyrighted materials - Read First Before Posting

[NashvilleDon]

To my understanding, a list of ingredients can not be copyrighted. Only the instructions. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[phatch]

Originally Posted by NashvilleDon

To my understanding, a list of ingredients can not be copyrighted. Only the instructions. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I agree with that assessment.

However, that agreement is tempered by how much money you are willing to spend in court to be proven right, though there is the risk of losing too with even more outlay. Or in this case, how much money Nicko is willing to spend in court. The answer is, it's not worth the fight.

Phil

[KYHeirloomer]

Under the law, a list of ingredients---whether for a chemical formula, what your kids need in terms of school supplies, or, to put a point on it, a recipe, is not copyrightable. There is no ambiguity there at all.

The question is whether or not the instructions are intellectual or artistic property under the meaning of the law. This part is ambiguous. And, to the best of my knowledge, has not been tested.

And, as Phil implies, Nicko isn't going to be the one to do so.

Another consideration. According to some authorities, recipes, per se, are not copyrightable. But what happens when the recipe appears in a book? Does the general copyright applying to the work (the book) also apply to the component parts (i.e., a recipe in the book)? Again, this is ambiguous, and has not, to my knowledge, been tested.

Just for some perspective, to defend a copyright or patent suit takes 50 round ones just to open the door. And it goes up---rapidly---from there. Which is why there aren't a whole bunch of such suits. In the first place, you rarely recoup what it costs you in court. And, in the case of publishers, the PR aspect isn't good. So, 99.999999 ad nauseum percent of the time you will get away with minor---and even not so minor---infractions.

But, as I've said before: Do you do what's right out of fear of punishment? Or do you do what's right just because it's right?

All of which is academic at Cheftalk. Nicko has decreed that copyrighted material can not be posted without permission. And this is his site, so he makes the rules. We either live with them, or we're free to go elsewhere.

[kjb407]

I never knew you could copyright a recipe