Re: Compilation of Recipes

On Thu, 8 Jul 1999, Erin Jett <sejett[_at_]swbell.net> wrote:
>
> This may be an a question already answered, (if so, I apologize) but
> is it legal to put recipes on a website?

I'm not a copyright expert, and I'll be most interested in the responses of those who are, but in researching for a dance group what kinds of dance can be copyrighted, I became interested in recipes, too, when I learned that recipes cannot be copyrighted, though exactly why not is not clear to me.

(Section 202.1 (a) of the Copyright Office regulations, under the heading of "Material not subject to copyright," says:

   "The following are examples of works not subject to copyright and    applications for registration of such works cannot be entertained:

     "(a) Words and short phrases ... mere listing of ingredients or
     contents; ..."

The Copyright Office also has an information sheet on recipes, available at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/fls/fl122.htm (that's F L one two two), that expands on this:

   "Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds or    prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However,    where a recipe or formula is accompanied by a substantial literary    expresssion in the form of an explanation or directions, or where    there is a combination of recipes as in a cookbook, there may be a    basis for copyright protection."

I presume this means that the directions and the compilation aspects of the cookbook are regarded as copyrighted, but the poor recipes are still out in the cold. This is probably why a trend in cookbooks is to sort of "end-run" this interpretation and to publish them with lots of glossy color photos of how you slice the beets or squeeze the lemons, of how lovely the dish looks served (with each recipe in a different china, etc.), or detailed narrative explanations of how you actually prepare the food (though less experienced cooks probably also influence this) or how this or that dish made for a marvelous party or was fun to eat.

My guess is that it is because of this inability to copyright recipes that food writers in major newspapers and magazines, as well as in cookbooks, have adopted an ethical posture in which they are careful to indicate the source of each recipe they publish, whether is is a verbatim recipe or an "as adapted from" one. However, I suppose it is also possible that some other IP consideration, perhaps "palming off?", and the accompanying legal advice is behind these ethics, and not just considerations of fairness. It will be most interesting to see what others have to say on this issue, too.

Nevertheless, in response to you basic question, it would seem to me that if recipes can't be copyrighted, there should be no impediment in copyright law to posting individual recipes on a web site, and I believe there are several web sites that do this. Copying every recipe in a cookbook should run afoul of the copyright in the compilation, however, as would copying the preparation instructions verbatim. With detailed information about the cookbook and how to buy one, some publishers might be willing to allow you to do that, or even to include the photos, but it might be cumbersome to obtain the necessary permissions.

In case no one provides a detailed explanation of the rationale why recipes cannot be copyrighted, I'd like to ask for one, and, if it's not pushing things, also for citations to any law review articles or other sources discussing the issue, whether it relates exclusively to recipes or is a more general discussion of what the principle is.

Mike O'Connor
<mjoconor[_at_]erols.com> Received on Fri Jul 09 1999 - 14:57:41 GMT