In article .com>, "Sheldon" > wrote:
>sf wrote:
>> Sheldon wrote:
>>
>> > Now I dare someone to point me to a Copyrighted hummus recipe...
>>
>> <smipping the rest>
>> Remember to quit while you're still ahead.
>
>Thanks, at least someone is clear headed enough to realize I'm winning.
>This is a safe bet... don't you think that by now someone would have
>produced a Copyrighted recipe (I'm sure a few have been Googling their
>fingers raw). No one has because there are none. It's not easy to
>obtain a Copyright, the full onus is upon the applicant to prove that
>they are the first to have created whatever it is they wish to
>Copyright...
[snip]

G'day Shel, me old mate. I have the impression you're confusing
Patent and Copyright. Of course, things might be different over
there, but my understanding of how these things work is:

If "recipe" is regarded as a process it may be patentable like any
other *original* process or product. But it would probably be
bloody difficult to prove "originality" for a household recipe.

If "recipe" is regarded as a description of a process, then copyright
is automatically granted to the author -- though a description
which is nothing more than a direct copy of a previous version
would be plagiarism. Plagiarism would be damn difficult to prove for
an individual recipe; but a book full of the things could give rise to
some legal problems for the perpetrator.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID