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Comment by TheAdamAndChe | Hacker News Reader

Cool! Looks fun. What exactly is open source on the site? Is it the recipes? If so, then what license do they use? Is there any disclaimer of that on submission?

I'm not dissing, just making sure your ducks are in a row. It's a fun idea!

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Recipes cannot be copyrighted.

Wrong. Lists of ingredients cannot be copyrighted. But the accompanying explanation can be copyrighted if it is substantial enough:

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

Beyond the recipes themselves, the collection may be copyrighted.

The photos accompanying the recipes are also copyrighted.

The basic directions (beat egg, stir in vanilla, etc) are part of the recipe. The courts have ruled that there's need to be substantial content to make it copyrightable. That, along with ads and the need to "drive engagement" is why most recipe sites have long articles around the list of ingredients.

"A recipe is a statement of the ingredients and procedure required for making a dish of food. A mere listing of ingredients or contents, or a simple set of directions, is uncopyrightable. As a result, the Office cannot register recipes consisting of a set of ingredients and a process for preparing a dish." https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ33.pdf

The recipe itself can't be, but you can't just copy and paste recipe text from one website to another.

The basic directions (beat egg, stir in vanilla, etc) are part of the recipe. The courts have ruled that there must be substantial content to make it copyrightable. That, along with ads and the need to "drive engagement" is why most recipe sites have long articles around the list of ingredients.

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