Hi Everyone,

I’ve become involved in a book project where the author wants to take old recipes (already published) and just change the amounts of ingredients used. He thinks this will make the recipe “his” to copyright.

I don’t believe that is the case.

Does anybody know?

I’ve heard you only need to change a recipe 10% to make it your own, but this is an entire collection of recipes he wants to duplicate.

Would love any advice.

I moving this post to legal and ethical issues forum.

Might get a better response there.

Thanks! I knew I was in the wrong place but didn’t know how to fix it after I posted it.

No problem, that’s what we’re here for!

I’m no copyright expert, but from my understanding list of ingredients and recipes are not really copyrightable. Head notes on the other hand are.

In my opinion, there really is an ethical question lying underneath the legal question. While I don’t know the specifics of your project, I might take a step back and consider the ethical implications of a project like this. I think some other people will chime in on this. I am more the technical guy.

Ingredient lists cannot be copyrighted, only the method. So in order to avoid copyright issues, the method must be re-worded.

whether what your friend wants to do is ethical, is a whole other question!

I was just discussing this with a friend who has an extensive knowledge of copyright law, intellectual property, public domain, etc. A recipe is one of the few things out there that can’t really be copyrighted. Every time I follow a recipe, whether I change it up or not, the end result is something that I have produced, so I can post that list of ingredients onto my blog and technically wouldn’t have to attribute it to anybody.

The conversation didn’t get to the method, but I agree with Marlene that you can’t just copy word for word what someone else has written for the technique, since it’s an author’s own words and would probably be on par with quoting entire paragraphs from published novels. Credit is necessary for things like that.

As for ethics, this is all my own opinion now, it seems wrong that his intent is to just take an entire collection of recipes (from one source? one person? or various sources?) and make them “his”. Where’s the creativity and originality? What’s his personal connection to these recipes that he wants to place them all together into “his own” collection? I’m sure (at least I hope) it’s more complicated than just copying a bunch of recipes for the sake of publishing a book, but for now it seems a bit sketch.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the input. It’s not as “underhanded” as it sounds. While I can’t go into detail, my friend basically wants to put a “new, refreshed and updated” angle on a set of old recipes. He’s trying to bring the love for these recipes back to the forefront. He’s not simply out to steal somebody else’s work. It’s not like that at all. I actually respect what he’s trying to do. I just don’t want him to get into trouble for doing it the wrong way. So this info really helps.

Thanks so much!

@cookskorner said:
Ingredient lists cannot be copyrighted, only the method. So in order to avoid copyright issues, the method must be re-worded.

Actually, methods are the stuff of patent and trade secret not copyright. Facts are not copyrightable and ingredient lists are generally just facts (unless the arrangement happens to be extremely novel which is very very unlikely). Basically, when “copying” a recipe, you’d pretty much have to copy the instructions verbatim, or nearly so, to get into a dodgy area as far as copyright is concerned.

I think a discussion of the ethical implications would be fruitful since there are many more issues than the one mentioned in starting this thread.