SC - Stefan's pointers - legalities

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/5/98 6:00:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
kiriel at cybergal.com writes:

<<  I don't know about the legality of reproducing recipes from
 books, but for recipes that you have redacted yourself, the legal
 situation seems pretty clear!
 
 Kiriel >>

We have covered this issue several times. In a nut shell individual recipes
are not copyright protected while a collection is. If anyone really needs to
delve into this subject again I would highly recommend contacting LLlewelyn
Press and asking to speak to their legal advisors. 

'Recipes' per say clearly fall under the definition of formulas in copyright
law. If a person is that attached to an easily changed formula, they should
seek firmer protection of their work by applying for a patent instead.
Alternatively if there is worry about copyright infringement the creator of
any particular formula can choose not to post it. I am subscribesd to many
recipe lists, and so long as the original source is given if it is known,
there is absolutely no infringement of copyright. This does not extend to
other rforms of creative writing , however.

In a nutshell , posting recipes to this list or any list or including them in
articles is OK.  Practicing the common courtesy of sighting source and/or
author so far as it is known is an added plus which should be observed by all
posters of recipes or any other non-original material. 

If you are in doubt, then add something to the recipe that would be a change
in the formula (e.g. 1/4 tsp salt or 1/2 tsp sugar) and reword the directions
for clarity which would make it a different formula although such practices
clearly border on the line of dishonesty, IMO, and should not be not
encouraged.

Ras (who really doesn't care as long as credit is given where due.)
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