buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
i would have paid $50k for the marinade used on jimmy armstrong's pork chops, they were that good...
In the US the fine can be double that ($100,000). However something interesting to note of recipe copyrights is that a list of ingredients can not be copyrighted. The instructions are the only thing that can be protected. If you write the recipe out in your own words and post it then you are in compliance. Of course there is no definition for what constitutes your own words so in the end it would be up to a judge to decide if you changed the wording enough.When I worked in the tourism industry (a lifetime ago), I ate at some very nice restaurants. I asked for and received many excellent recipes. I am hesitant to share those recipes even with my dearest friend because I don't know that the recipient will identify the source of the recipe. We all pass recipes around. I recently found a link that I had posted here was actually a recipe that had originally appeared in a magazine. The website where I stumbled across the recipe did not credit the magazine. That's a violation of copyright. Protecting copyright has become a challenge because of the Internet. Just because it is on the Internet, doesn't mean that someone doesn't own the copyright. If the owner (in this case, a magazine) has it on the Internet, a link provided rather than reproducing the recipe unless one receives expressed permission to do so. In this particular case, the blogger even used the photo of the dish that was in the magazine, so the photographer's copyright is also violated (unless the magazine bought the rights). In Canada, expressed permission can only be in writing (not email, it must be in writing) and must be requested each and every time one wishes to reproduce the material that is protected by copyright. There is a requirement to acknowledge that the work is reproduced with expressed permission. I am not a lawyer, but I know this from a copyright issue for which I needed legal assistance to stop someone from violating a copyright I own. In Canada, the party that violates the copyright can be subjected to a $50K fine.