Re: Recipes?

On Sun, 10 Jan 1999, Karsten M. Self <kmself[_at_]ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
> On Wed, 06 Jan 1999, Peter D. Junger <junger[_at_]samsara.law.cwru.edu> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 31 Dec 1998, Alan Divack <a.divack[_at_]fordfound.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > Are recipes covered by copyright?
> > >
> > > My understanding was that they are too "useful" to meet the test, and
> > > are viewed and mere encapsulation of ideas, and hence not protected.
> > > This is a propos of whether or not it is an infringement to post
> > > recipes on an electronic bulletin board.
> >
> > What is the difference between a recipe and a computer program?
>

[snip]
>
> Not sure whether your question is rhetorical or earnest. What precisely
> did you have in mind?

Just that I see little difference between the two, and yet copyright protection is routinely extended to computer programs -- including programs in machine language where all the expression has been stripped out.  

> My understanding is that computer programs are afforded copyright
> protection for their expressive content, but not their functional
> characteristics. As such, copyright protection for software is
> rather thin.
 

I certainly agree that that protection should be thin. But I don't think Microsoft would agree with me.

> Are there instances of other works which are afforded copyright
> protection but which aren't considered protected speech under the
> Constitution?

I believe that computer programs are protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution---or at least the information in and the expression of computer programs is entitled to First Amendment protection.

But I have heard that there are cases upholding copyrights on obscene works that are not entitled to First Amendment protection. (I am not sure that there actually are such cases, but they would not involve any contradiction if they did exist.)  

> Incidently, has there been any further action on Junger v. Daley since
> the summary judgement this past summer?

Not really. We filed a notice of appeal, and the 6th circuit did not set a briefing schedule in hopes that Bernstein would be decided before they had to hear the case. By now there should be a new briefing schedule but I haven't heard anything from counsel.

--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
 EMAIL: junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu    URL:  http://samsara.law.cwru.edu/
        NOTE: junger[_at_]pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu no longer exists