On Writing: Recipes And Copyright Law

As editor of an ezine, “Food Writing,” I received a nice email a while back that included a question about writing recipes and copyright protection. This topic causes confusion about writers, and food writers, in particular.

Here’s the concise version of all you need to know about copyright laws and food writing.

1. U.S. copyright laws protect intellectual property with the purpose of encouraging artistic endeavor. Any original work is protected by copyright laws as soon as it is written or recorded. You don’t have to do anything to protect your original work but you may want to register it with the U.S. Copyright office. This is the only way you will be able to go to court for compensation if your work is used or stolen without your permission.

2. Copyright laws do not protect lists however, so your recipe’s list of ingredients is not protected.

3. The rest of the recipe you have developed and written down is copyrighted. This includes your directions, cooking tips, and personal preferences as you write them in your own words.

If you have an idea and tell someone about it, and that person writes it down and has it published, you are out of luck.

If you write down your recipe then it is protected by copyright laws.

If you take the list of ingredients (say for egg and olive salad) and write up, in your own words, how to make it, then, by law, you have an original recipe.

I do recommend that if you are inspired to create a recipe based on a restaurant’s signature dish or a recipe from a beloved cookbook, give credit to the source in a way that fits in with your recipe: “Last summer, I was so inspired by the white chocolate cake at The Lemongrass that I created a low-fat, vegan version for my friends.”

If you are publishing a newsletter, website or cookbook and want to use someone else’s recipe, get permission. Write to the cookbook’s publisher and include the cookbook’s information, the recipe and page it’s on, and in what context you will be using the recipe. You may be given permission to use it, or charged a fee. You may be denied permission. (If you are reviewing a cookbook, the author or publisher probably included a letter allowing you to include several recipes in your review.)

Do not write for a website or publication whose editor exhorts you to “just take recipes from cookbooks and reword them a little.” I was offered a job doing that very thing for a site that needed recipes. They claimed that if you change a few words in the directions, “we can’t get into trouble.” Personally, I wouldn’t write for someone who thinks narrowly avoiding being sued for copyright infringement is a strategy for business success.

To recap: your list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted. The directions and other information can. Practically speaking, this allows every food writer in the world to publish traditional recipes, home cooking favorites and simple recipes.

Ideas cannot be copyrighted but works that are in a publishable format (written, recorded) are protected by copyright laws as soon as they are put in that format.

I have also had writers take issue with my writing on copyrights and recipes, stating that they are compiling recipes, clipped from magazines, for publishing in cookbooks. I know that a traditional publisher would never allow that, unless all permissions are in order. However, the ease of self-publishing today allows writers to often mistakenly take the step of violating a magazine’s or author’s rights. The unpleasant result could include being sued for damages, a thing most writers cannot handle professionally or financially.

When in doubt, do some more research on rights, and visit: www.copyright.gov.

© 2006 Pamela White

About the Author:

Pamela White is the author of over 600 published articles, short stories and essays, and publishes “Food Writing” at http://www.food-writing.com and “The Writing Parent” at http://www.thewritingparent.net. She teaches online writing classes at both sites and invites readers to subscribe at the sites.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

 Pamela White

Business Website Content Copyright Violation Scare

It seems everyone who has a website is worried about having their copyright violated by web content thieves. But are web content copyright violations really such a big problem?

True, web content theft has the potential to destroy the web completely if taken to extremes. What would be the point of creating anything if it were immediately stolen?

But by the same token, shoplifting has the potential to destroy retail if taken to its logical conclusion. Yet that hasn’t stopped chain stores from reaping a fortune. As in the shopping mall, so on the web: the system still works because the vast majority of users don’t steal.

One of the biggest hidden risks of web content theft is in fact that webmasters will overreact to the perceived threat. Could copyright theft fears create an atmosphere of mistrust among publishers, just as phishing and fraud have created an atmosphere of distrust among web users? While we are nowhere near that point yet, it’s still worth giving the hysteria a reality check before it gets out of control.

Dangers of Obsessing over Web Content Theft and Internet Copyright Violations

1. Unnecessary Web Content Copyright Registration

Some paranoid webmasters have actually gone to the trouble and expense of registering the copyright of their work with the government–often at the urging of paid services that charge a hefty fee. Yet copyright registration provides no protection against theft. It only provides statutory damages if somehow you ever take the thief to court, AND he or she shows up AND can pay (unlikely).

Copyright registration not only costs money. It also takes time. If everyone were to register copyright, the flow of information on the web would be impeded.

2. Chilling Effect of Web Content Copyright Violation Paranoia

Some extremely paranoid website owners have stopped publishing new content–a guaranteed Pyrrhic victory if there ever was one.

3. Wasted Energy and Resources

In short, paranoia over web content theft distracts crucial energy from the creative process of building a website. Every moment you spend wringing your hands over web content theft is a moment you aren’t spending building your site.

4. Mostly Fueled by Ignorance of the Real Internet Copyright Situation

Much of the anxiety around internet copyright violations is caused by three groundless myths about the dire consequences for your website if you are a victim:

a. internet copyright violations are hard to pursue (thanks to search engines, copyright violations are easier to identify and punish than in print);

b. your site will suffer a duplicate content penalty in search engines;

c. content theft will completely destroy the unique value of your website.

To realize how groundless the last two fears are, you only have to look at any newspaper website, stuffed with syndicated content from the newswires.

In short, though website content theft and other internet copyright violations corrode the ties that bind the web together, they must not distract from the real business of the web: sharing information, ideas, and art. Keep publishing new content. If you don’t, the web content thieves have won.

About the Author

Joel Walsh is a website content writer: http://upmarketcontent.com/?%20website%20content%20writer [Web publication requirement: create live link for the URL/web address using "website content writer" as visible link text/anchor text.]

Joel Walsh

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Is there officially legal content sharing method for blog content?

Many people write articles on blog everyday, but most of them do not think about copyright.

I think the strong point of web 2.0 can make bigger portal is information sharing.

Somebody think content copy is illegal, but content copy with the source link is the sharing theme of web 2.0.

Is there officially legal content sharing method for blog content?