> On 24 Sep 2023, at 20.48, Diana Lee via Origami
> <origami@lists.digitalorigami.com> wrote:
> I'm not sure if this would hold up in court, but you can see the parallel.
> The problem can then extend to:
> 1) if you buy a pattern to knit a scarf,
> 2) if you buy a recipe to bake a cake
> 3) if you buy instructions to make xyz,
> then would it also be copyright infringement to make those things and sell
> for cash?
I know nothing about knitware and copyright, though I would assume specific
patterns can be copyrighted.
For food I believe that recipes can be copyrighted same as literature, but if
you rewrite the recipe using the same ingredients, but with another text, it is
in general not copyrighted and you may sell your own version of the recipe.
This corresponds to producing a novel with the same plot, but using different
words to describe it: that is allowed (of course, only changing a few words is
not allowed).
Furthermore, you may sell food based on the recipe (in both versions).
Edge cases may exist where a specific look of the dish, or some very specific
way of using the ingredients, are copyrighted. I assume that must be for very
distinct looks and names, and very innovative ways of combining ingredients,
and that even rather small changes will invalidate the copyright.
Though analogies may be used across different areas, they are no more than
that: law does not transfer reasonably from one area to another.
Regards,
Hans
Hans Dybkjær
