The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Recipe book publication question

KansasGirlStuckInMaryland's picture
KansasGirlStuck...

Recipe book publication question

My church is in the process of gathering recipes to publish a recipe book to raise funds for the kitchen renovation we just completed.  I have made a couple of the recipes I found here for coffee hour before and after the service and they have been huge hits (especially the blueberry cream braid).  I have been asked to include those recipes in the church cookbook.  I would love to add some of the recipes I have used, but don't want to do any copyright infringement.  What is the feeling here about this?  This recipe book is going to be self-published by the church (home computer printers and a trip to a copy shop) and loose-leaf notebook bound.  It will not ever be sold in any kind of bookstore or be available online, strictly church members and word-of-mouth to friends and family.  Would giving credit to TFL and/or the person that posted the recipe be enough or should I just not even give the recipes to the cookbook committee.

 I have several church cookbooks from friends and family and have never noted any kind of credit being given for recipes, but these were all published in the days before the Internet and easy access to millions of recipes.

 Thoughts?

 Anne

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

and sell a list of websites to favorite recipes. 

Mini O

holds99's picture
holds99

I don't believe copyrights apply to recipes but I'm not an attorney.  However, my understanding is that the acceptable procedure is to "attribute".  In other words cite the source of the recipe and give full credit to the publication and author.

Howard

Floydm's picture
Floydm

As far as I can tell, lists of ingredients or baking processes cannot be copyrighted, but the text descriptions of them can be. So if you copy a recipe and instructions from a book or website verbatim you can run into trouble, but if you paraphrase and modify a recipe based on your own experience you should be fine.

Attribution doesn't appear to change one's legal right to reproduce something without publisher's permission, but it is considerate.

I don't mind if you take what you've enjoyed here and share it with others.