When is it OK to post someone else's recipe?

[GB]

Just to simplify it for everyone...

If you post a link to a recipe you are 100% safe. That is the best way to post a recipe that is online somewhere else and is the preferred method of posting a recipe here if that is an option.

Rewording a recipe is a possibility, but riskier so it should be avoided if possible.

[Claire]

This is such a touchy subject, and not just pertaining to food recipes. I have a friend who is a composer and a couple who are poets, and I've done some beadwork for publication. One of my poet friends and the composer are just this side of paranoid, one fearing reading, the other listening to music, on the oft chance that they might "copy" something without realizing it. When asked if some of my work could go in a book I went through every darned publication I owned on the subject to make sure nothing I submitted resembled something someone had already done. It is scary. I never thought this forum would pose the same problems, but I won't quote recipes any more, I'll just tell people where to find them!