Reproducing a free magazine on the internet.

[markm3]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hello, Thank you in advance. I have an online store selling items made in a specific country. The foreign government from that place publishes a free magazine with articles and recipes to promote that place (published and distributed in the USA.) I contacted the agency, and they refused permission for us to publish (reproduce) their recipes online.

The Issue: Our competitor has been given permission, thus I suspect that an employee at said agency has some sort of interest to reproduce said articles. We frequently run into issues like this, where our competitor has gone out of their way to isolate our business from media outlets, manufacturers, trade shows, etc. in this manner. (The magazine even says that articles may be reproduced with permission, and I have seen them reproduced in other locations, but to a lesser extent.)

We are an established business with an excellent reputation and would not 'harm' the reputation of said magazine or country in any way, but would rather benefit them by acting as a positive promotional tool.

The question: Would I be within my fair use rights to reproduce a recipe from said magazine for the purpose of adding a commentary on my web site? Keep in mind that the magazine is given away for free, and actually ceased publication last year. thanks.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hello, Thank you in advance. I have an online store selling items made in a specific country. The foreign government from that place publishes a free magazine with articles and recipes to promote that place (published and distributed in the USA.) I contacted the agency, and they refused permission for us to publish (reproduce) their recipes online.

The Issue: Our competitor has been given permission, thus I suspect that an employee at said agency has some sort of interest to reproduce said articles. We frequently run into issues like this, where our competitor has gone out of their way to isolate our business from media outlets, manufacturers, trade shows, etc. in this manner. (The magazine even says that articles may be reproduced with permission, and I have seen them reproduced in other locations, but to a lesser extent.)

We are an established business with an excellent reputation and would not 'harm' the reputation of said magazine or country in any way, but would rather benefit them by acting as a positive promotional tool.

The question: Would I be within my fair use rights to reproduce a recipe from said magazine for the purpose of adding a commentary on my web site? Keep in mind that the magazine is given away for free, and actually ceased publication last year. thanks.

You were specifically denied permission...yet you wish to ignore that?

 

[FlyingRon]

Just what part of "fair use" do you think applies to allow you to steal these people's intellectual property for your commercial gain. There's no obligation that they let you copy them. There's no obligation that they need to put you and your competitor on the same footing.

Fair use is not a right that you get automatically, it's something you'll have to prove after they've started what will likely be for you a very expensive legal action.

Further if you publish it on an internet site, it won't even come to that if the file a complaint with your ISP alleging the infringement. The ISP will roll over and kill your site. You can't just yell FAIR USE at the ISP to stop that.

 

[divgradcurl]

Recipes are not copyrightable. Any descriptive text, formatting, etc., can be protected by copyright, but the recipe itself -- the ingredient list and the instructions for how to put the ingredients together -- is not. If you want to use the recipes, rewrite them into your own version.

 

[markm3]

divgradcurl, Thank you for the informative and polite response.

Zigner & FlyingRon, No thank you. I simply asked a question, yet you both immediately assumed I was breaking the law and was trying to steal something. Notice my question was simply if fair use rights would apply, not that was going to proceed with any form of action unless it was legally permissible.

 

[Zigner]

divgradcurl, Thank you for the informative and polite response.

Zigner & FlyingRon, No thank you. I simply asked a question, yet you both immediately assumed I was breaking the law and was trying to steal something. Notice my question was simply if fair use rights would apply, not that was going to proceed with any form of action unless it was legally permissible.

Get real...

YOU said the following (paraphrased):
I want to use somebody elses work and they said no. Can I do it anyway?

The CLEAR implication is that you are fine with ignoring the rights of another so that YOU can gain from it. <spit>