[Sca-cooks] Copyright question?

[Holly Stockley]

>
>Ok, folks who are in the copyright know.  There's been talk about the fact 
>that you can't copyright a recipe, though you can copyright the exact 
>wording of the instructions.

Specifically, from the copyright office:

How do I protect my recipe?
A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law. However, 
where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression 
in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a collection 
of recipes as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection. 
Note that if you have secret ingredients to a recipe that you do not wish to 
be revealed, you should not submit your recipe for registration, because 
applications and deposit copies are public records. See FL 122, Recipes.
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

>
>Can copyrighting a recipe prevent someone from using that recipe to make 
>food for sale?  Like, if I say I have a copyright on my kiffle recipe, 
>could someone use it to make kiffles to sell at a bakery?

In a heartbeat, and you wouldn't have any real recourse.  If you don't want 
it to be used that way, your best bet is never to publish it.  Intellectual 
Propery lawyers often call copyright law on recipes "thin to nonexistent."

>
>Similarly, (OT for food, but closely related, and my brain is wandering far 
>afield at this late hour...) how would that relate to printed patterns 
>(like, a sewing or knitting pattern)?  Clearly, you couldn't reprint the 
>pattern and sell it.  But, can you make a garment from that pattern and 
>sell it, even if the pattern says that you can't?

Unrelated, since a pattern for an object is more than a list of ingredients. 
  Here, the actual instructions are the key, since the pattern wouldn't 
exist without them.   No you may NOT make a garment from that pattern and 
sell it, unless you've arranged it in advance with the holder of the 
copyright and you'll be paying royalties.  Though it has been argued that if 
you buy a new copy from the copyright holder for EACH time you make and sell 
it, you'd be OK, I'm not sure that's ever been tested.

You can IMITATE the result, if you change it slightly to make it "your own."

This has gotten ugly a few times, and has since resulted in websites that 
post "uncopyrighted" patterns for sale at bazaars, etc.

Femke