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> A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in th
by seanwilson 6y ago
> A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions
Very few recipes are just a minimal list of ingredients and steps though? I don't think this means you have to add your life story above it, just add enough explanation about the steps and it will be copyrightable. The recipes on Based Cooking will surely pass this.
It's not like many recipe websites have 100% original recipes they're trying to stop you stealing anyway. A website of unattributed stolen recipes probably isn't worth much as it won't have a reputation or branding.
- ghaff 6y agoThere are plenty of recipe sites out there that are mostly just ingredients/instructions like allrecipes.com, Epicurious, etc. If people are allergic to sites that try to provide more of a story or context around a given recipe, they should just avoid those sites and stick to the more "just the facts" ones. There's no shortage of those.
- cratermoon 6y ago> Very few recipes are just a minimal list of ingredients and steps though? If you look in a traditional cookbook, yes. The online world is different, for all the reasons discussed here. > unattributed stolen recipes probably isn't worth much as it won't have a reputation or branding. That's the point, though, you can't "steal" a recipe. It can be a trade secret, like the original formula for Coca-Cola, but if that recipe were to get out anyone could make the same stuff, not call it Coca-Cola, and the Coca-Cola company couldn't do anything about it. At best they could try to find out how it leaked and pursue action under theft of trade secrets law.