Copyright

As a recipe mailing list listmom, I know that many people are concerned about copyright and recipes.

And as a recipe listmom, I've done lots of research into the issue.

Here's what I've found:

Copyright exists to protect original, *artistic* works (think photographs, paintings, poems, plays, books, etc.). As recipes are essentially a description of a technique, they cannot--with certain exceptions--be copyrighted.

• A set of ingredients cannot be copyrighted.
• Recipe directions MAY be copyrighted, if they have significant *original* prose. (...and "Mix all ingredients" is NOT original!)
• A single recipe may not be copyrighted unless it has significant *original* prose.
• A set of recipes (as in a cookbook or magazine) CAN be copyrighted, under collection copyright.

So, I believe that it is OK for us to share recipes on this website from any source, so long as we do not house a collection of recipes from one single source (like a cookbook or magazine) as one publicly downloadable file. Recipes from cookbooks and magazines are definitely a part of most of the lists here...but they are only a *part* of the list. If you are the original copyright holder of any recipe shared on this site, and do not want it to be a part of it, please contact me, jamie@cooking-lists.com, and I will remove your recipe(s) from any archive.

Recipe formatters cannot and do not claim copyright on the recipes they've simply put into digital format from other sources; copyright resides only with the original author and/or publisher.

And here's the official word from the Library of Congress website: 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.

If you'd like to see how two other respected cooking websites handle copyright:

Arielle's Recipe Archives
Recipezaar

If you REALLY want to read lots of information, follow the links from the copyright article at Encarta.

Finally, here's a couple of my favorite recipe quotes:

"A recipe does not truly belong to anyone.
It is only a guide, only a skeletal framework.
You must fill in the flesh according to your nature and desire.
Your life, your love will bring these words into full creation.
This cannot be taught.
So please, cook, love, feel, create."
--Edward Espee Brown

A recipe is only a theme,
which an intelligent cook can
play each time with a variation.
-- Madame Benoit