I had a look at the German spoken discussions on the net about this. I would see some distinctions:

1. To copy recipes word by word from a cook book or any other source and republish them as Squidoo lens is most likely a violation of copyright.
But this is independent from the fact that the stolen content is a recipe.

2. recipes in general are not copyrighted..even though there are some people interested to copyright even recipes in order to capitalise on that.
Hopefully this will never happen. The list of the ingredients of a recipe cannot be protected by copyright at present, as far as I understand.
Publishing the list of ingredients and to add information about the cooking process in your own words is probably the right way to go.

Here's what I found from the U.S. Copyright Office Website (on recipes):

"Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.

Protection under the copyright law (title 17 of the U.S. Code, section 102) extends only to 'original works of authorship' that are fixed in a tangible form (a copy). 'Original' means merely that the author produced the work by his own intellectual effort, as distinguished from copying an existing work. Copyright protection may extend to a description, explanation, or illustration, assuming that the requirements of the copyright law are met."

So, it seems that what others have said here about writing the description in your own words is accurate. I've also read that it's wise to use terms like "based on" or "modified from" (and then cite your original source) anyway.

Thank you guys - this is all really helpful. I too had heard that a list of ingredients cant be copyrighted but that it makes sense to rewrite the method in your own words.

Just want to emphasise that I personally have no problem with all the great recipe lenses out there that always give credit to and cite their sources - or should that be sauces

I doubt whether a recipe could be copyright under UK law as it ins't possible to copyright business processes and I suspect a recipe could full under that.  I suspect to attract copyright, a work would have to do more than list ingredients and instructions and that it would often be OK to copy that word for word.

The exceptions would be things pictures (separate rules apply as often discussed) and things like "How I make my grandmother's scones" which includes literary input in things like "She taught me to stir the mixture clockwise believing ..."  The recipe would still not be copyright, but the instructions would be.

Kate

Caveat: I am not a lawyer and am not offering legal advice

Kharadriisa wrote:

I think coca cola doesn't have a copyright or trademark on their recipe.  I believe it's because after 17 years it goes into public domain.  They keep the recipe a secret because of that.

Under what circumstances does something go into public domain under 17 years? I've never heard of that.

Copyright is generally 70 years after the death of the author, except in the case of works for hire, when it's even longer. Of course that's US copyright; donno about other countries.

Trademarks are something separate, and companies carefully protect them for generations. They don't lose 'em after 17 years. Look at Ford Motors, for example... or for that matter, Microsoft!

There's one other thing that might come into play here, and I don't know the legalities involved: patents. I believe that formulas like Coca-Cola may be patented. I wonder if that could also be true of some recipes.

Last edited by Greekgeek (01/05/2010 4:04 pm)

Thanks for bringing this up AJ. I, too, have wondered about this. And thanks to those who posted the U.S. Copyright info.

I am going to be posting the article on SquidLog next week, so if anyone else has any views on this, now is the time to add them.

Thanks everyone who has contributed so far

People might wish to reflect on the fact that copyright works both ways.  If recipes cannot be copyrighted, then recipes in a lens aren't copyright either so it's OK for people to lift those recipes for their own lens.  It means the success of recipe lenses comes down very much to the SEO ability of lensmasters.

Kate