Recipe auctions

I am worried that these people are unaware of copyright laws. You have to be able to prove that these are your original recipes, and lets face it, the most popular recipes surely have been printed already. anyone have an opinion on this? I dont think trade me should allow them.

I'm happy with posting & copying recipes.

My belief is that you can give credit to the source eg. a recipe book or magazine and/or give the directions in your own words or make it your own by changing some of the ingredients. That way you are not violating copyright rules. I think I heard on a food show on TV that no one "owns" a recipe.I stand to be corrected if I am wrong. :)

That is because a "recipe evolves" You could put 12 cooks in a room all with the same ingredients and ,2,3 or all could come up with something the same.
We have seen that on a show just recently,two cooked the same dish, out of six.
Copyright comes into play if you use a copyrighted image, for instance on a cake, and sell the cake for profit. I would imagine you would need to be selling thousands, but on saying that , the copyright may be very high. I sell my photo's, my photo's are worth thousands. Darn me, I cannot find anyone using using my image. lol.

I am worried that these people are unaware of copyright laws. You have to be able to prove that these are your original recipes, and lets face it, the most popular recipes surely have been printed already. anyone have an opinion on this! I dont think trade me should allow them.

I'm happy with posting & copying recipes.

My understanding is that the precise recipe (i.e. technique, wording etc.) can be copyrighted, but if you've adapted it it effectively becomes a new recipe. Nobody can 'own' the list of ingredients, it's the whole package. On my blog, I almost always adapt the recipes I post, as I have a certain format I like to use, and often make tweaks to the process and ingredients as I go - so though I usually put something like "adapted from xxx" if I know the source there generally shouldn't be copyright issues.

However, I've always wondered who buys recipes from those auctions - I buy cookbooks, but they are more than just recipes: there is usually commentary and (at least in the ones I prefer) lots of photos showing technique. Of course, perhaps I'm missing some gems - but I have never been tempted.

That is because a "recipe evolves" You could put 12 cooks in a room all with the same ingredients and ,2,3 or all could come up with something the same.
We have seen that on a show just recently,two cooked the same dish, out of six.
Copyright comes into play if you use a copyrighted image, for instance on a cake, and sell the cake for profit. I would imagine you would need to be selling thousands, but on saying that , the copyright may be very high. I sell my photo's, my photo's are worth thousands. Darn me, I cannot find anyone using using my image. lol.

My understanding is that the precise recipe (i.e. technique, wording etc.) can be copyrighted, but if you've adapted it it effectively becomes a new recipe. Nobody can 'own' the list of ingredients, it's the whole package. On my blog, I almost always adapt the recipes I post, as I have a certain format I like to use, and often make tweaks to the process and ingredients as I go - so though I usually put something like "adapted from xxx" if I know the source there generally shouldn't be copyright issues.

However, I've always wondered who buys recipes from those auctions - I buy cookbooks, but they are more than just recipes: there is usually commentary and (at least in the ones I prefer) lots of photos showing technique. Of course, perhaps I'm missing some gems - but I have never been tempted.

It depends on what you mean by "recipe". Ingredient lists and basic instructions such as "simmer for 20 minutes then add the herbs" are not subject to copyright but anything beyond that such as inspirational tales and anecdotes may be. Also a collection of recipes may be subject to copyright, but the copyright is for the arrangement, not the recipes themselves. This case provides some good information: http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/publications_v_meredith.htm

As someone else said, it's something that evolves, and doesn't really make sense to think about as being owned by any one person.

Recipe auctions

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