How Can Someone "OWN" the words to a recipe??

Posts: 10,640
1/29/13 2:47 P

A few years ago I made a brownie recipe. It was completely MINE. I got a ton of compliments and a few suggested I copyright it.
I looked into it. I was told a recipe cannot be copyrighted

Was the recipe you posted show a copyrighted symbol?
To my way of thinking, if you gave credit to the original "owner" then you are working within the boundaries BUT why don't you look into the copyright infringement "laws".

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Posts: 1,460
1/29/13 2:41 P

I've seen plenty of recipes be posted and then re-posted by other bloggers. Most of the time, it looks like credit is given and links are provided. But I guess, if someone 'owns' a recipe, they have the rights to it. How someone can 'own' a recipe, with so few ingredients, seems odd to me.
It reminds me of a local store being sued by Pro Bass Shop, I think? Or some other fishing store, because their logo was too similar to the big-box store's. The little store had three fish in it, one was a bass, and that was the only similarity I could see. How that could be a lawsuit, is beyond me.
On the other hand, if they 'own' it, and they request you remove it, I'd just remove it and move on. Or, do as they requested and try to change it up to be your own. I wonder if something as small as using light butter popcorn, or a certain color of sprinkles, would be enough to make the recipe yours?

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Posts: 26,917
1/29/13 2:00 P

People are on constant watch for their copyrighted materials being posted, whether they use a program to search the web for possible copyright infringement or they do it themselves. They can own the words to a recipe too, so it would need to be rewritten somehow so it wouldn't be an infringement on their copyrighted material.

On SparkPeople, we do not allow copyrighted materials to be posted, including recipes. For recipes, you can enter it for yourself, but not share it. If you were posting on a blog outside of SP, then we don't have control over that, but if we get a request from someone that their material was posted, then we have to comply with the request and remove it.

If you are blogging about that (on SP or on another site), you might want to consider just posting a link to the recipe rather than typing it out and posting a picture.

Coach Denise

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1/27/13 7:55 P

Hey guys

ok question. I completely understand giving credit to where you found a recipe! For instance, I have a blog where I share other peoples recipes. I ALWAYS post a link to the creator of the recipe as well as state the name of their blog. I will sometimes use one of the pics that went with the recipe too (noting that it was from that persons website).

Tonight I found a recipe with I kid you not THREE ingredients. It was just a popcorn, white chocolate, sprinkles recipe called "Party Popcorn". I stated where I had found it, linked it to creator, posted 2 pics, and said this was exact recipe from website. I shortly after recieved an email from the creator saying that I either needed to reword the recipe or take it down. That it belonged to her and that the correct way to share a recipe was to link it with ONE picture from the website and no recipe posted or try the recipe out myself, post my own pics, rewrite in my own words. what? Is this seriously true?

I'm not trying to steal anyones recipe. I just want to FEATURE peoples recipes on my page without always having to cook them first or rewrite in a different way. However, I do not want to do anything illegal. any advice?

thanks!

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