Recipes

Idaho...

I am starting a website that will include an area for people to post their favorite recipes. My fear is that they will post a recipe out of a book or magazine. would this be copyright violation? Would they need to include their source? What if they received it and don't know it was originally published in a book or magazine?

My thinking is this: recipes are so abundant and are passed around by so many people, how can a person who publishes it in a book guarantee that they are the originator of that recipe. So much so that they have control over its publication?

Thanks
Steve (in Idaho)

steveinid said:

Idaho...

I am starting a website that will include an area for people to post their favorite recipes. My fear is that they will post a recipe out of a book or magazine. would this be copyright violation? Would they need to include their source? What if they received it and don't know it was originally published in a book or magazine?

My thinking is this: recipes are so abundant and are passed around by so many people, how can a person who publishes it in a book guarantee that they are the originator of that recipe. So much so that they have control over its publication?

Thanks
Steve (in Idaho)

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My response:

It doesn't matter. Recipes cannot be copyrighted or patented. So, in this type of an instance, your writers can copy someone else's work and recipes all they like and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Did you know that perfume recipes can't be copyrighted or patented?

IAAL

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

Did you know that perfume recipes can't be copyrighted or patented?

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Ah, but the Colonel's secret ingredients can remain secret....
Or Coca-Cola's.
Or even Jack's 'Secret Sauce'.

JETX said:

Ah, but the Colonel's secret ingredients can remain secret....
Or Coca-Cola's.
Or even Jack's 'Secret Sauce'.

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My response:

That's right, they remain a secret - - not protected by copyright, however. They only remain secret because those recipes aren't published and are locked in safes in corporate headquarters.

Coca-Cola Company took Pepsico to court in the late 1930's over this issue and lost.

IAAL

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

My response:

That's right, they remain a secret - - not protected by copyright, however. They only remain secret because those recipes aren't published and are locked in safes in corporate headquarters.

Coca-Cola Company took Pepsico to court in the late 1930's over this issue and lost.

IAAL

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A while back April 1985, "New Coke" came out trying to make it taste like Pepsi, two things happened, "Coke" drinkers didn't like it because it tasted like "Pepsi", and most Coke drinkers like Coke and Pepsi Drinkers like Pepsi, so "New Coke" was dropped and Coke Classic returned. We know one of the secret ingredients shhhhh Vanilla because while they were producing "New Coke" the GNP for Madagascar dropped because all of a suden there was a drop in their sales of Vanilla, once Coke Classic reurned, Vanilla exports from Madagascar returned to their previous levels.
The New Coke Story:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/thomassheils/newcoke.htm

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Coca-Cola (some of the recepie is here)
Coca-Cola Corporation is the world's largest customer of natural vanilla extract. When New Coke was introduced, in 1984, the economy of Madagascar crashed, and only recovered after New Coke flopped. The reason is because New Coke uses vanillin, a less-expensive synthetic substitute, and purchases of vanilla more than halved during this period. By 2002, the company introduced Vanilla Coke which is Coca-Cola with vanilla flavor.

My response:

rmet4nzkx, we all know some of the ingredients in certain products. These products have long ago been "reverse engineered". The problem with "reverse engineering" of food products is that while we can tell "what" ingredients were used, we can't tell what "amounts" of each ingredient. But that's not the point.

The point of this thread is that anyone can make a chicken coating, or a cola drink. The problem our poster is having is publishing a recipe with each ingredients' "proportion"; i.e., someone else's "concoction" that details 3/4 cup sugar, 2 twists of lime rind, or 3 cups flour, etc., etc.

That's what were talking about - - not whether "some" of the ingredients of famous products are "known".

IAAL

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

My response:

rmet4nzkx, we all know some of the ingredients in certain products. These products have long ago been "reverse engineered". The problem with "reverse engineering" of food products is that while we can tell "what" ingredients were used, we can't tell what "amounts" of each ingredient. But that's not the point.

The point of this thread is that anyone can make a chicken coating, or a cola drink. The problem our poster is having is publishing a recipe with each ingredients' "proportion"; i.e., someone else's "concoction" that details 3/4 cup sugar, 2 twists of lime rind, or 3 cups flour, etc., etc.

That's what were talking about - - not whether "some" of the ingredients of famous products are "known".

IAAL

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I know that, the point I was trying to make was that it was ironic that in the pursuit of more sales they really blew what they had going with the "Real Thing" and not only revealed one of their critical secret ingriedients but ruined the ecconomy of a nation ....
Now I have a recipie for "Mrs Fields Cookies" somewhere....

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

That's right, they remain a secret

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My friend, I know. I was being facetious.

As further proof that recipes can't be protected, take a look at your FAVORITE secret recipes at:
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipes.htm
http://www.pastrywiz.com/archive/category/copycat.htm
and
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/179/0.shtml

Very Very interesting replies. I appreciated all information given, whether it went off topic a little or not.

Okay... I understand now. BUT, let me throw one more variable in the mix just to clarify beyond any doubt.

The following:

Stir in: 1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour and knead until the dough loses its stickiness. Let rise in a covered greased bowl until doubled in bulk.

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is copied verbatim from "the Joy of Cooking." Can this part, the instructions, be considered copyrighted material. It isn't ingrediants (well, the flour is) but it is a crucial part of the recipe itself.

Thanks again for the great info.

Steve

steveinid said:

Very Very interesting replies. I appreciated all information given, whether it went off topic a little or not.

Okay... I understand now. BUT, let me throw one more variable in the mix just to clarify beyond any doubt.

The following:

is copied verbatim from "the Joy of Cooking." Can this part, the instructions, be considered copyrighted material. It isn't ingrediants (well, the flour is) but it is a crucial part of the recipe itself.

Thanks again for the great info.

Steve

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My response:

No, because it is a part of a recipe.

IAAL

Thanks again.

You've made me feel at ease about my new project.

Cosmos75 said:

I, too, am interested in this question.

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Gee, where to start????

1) You have posted to a thread that is THREE MONTHS old.
2) Your response is an attempt to HIJACK even a dead thread. Hijacking threads is both rude (by diverting focus from the original poster) and confusing (when you think a response was to you when it isn't).

Remove your post from this thread and start your own.

JETX said:

Gee, where to start????

1) You have posted to a thread that is THREE MONTHS old.
2) Your response is an attempt to HIJACK even a dead thread. Hijacking threads is both rude (by diverting focus from the original poster) and confusing (when you think a response was to you when it isn't).

Remove your post from this thread and start your own.

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I guess we need a new word instead of necrophellia