Did you know that recipes are not copyrightable? It is very challenging to copyright a recipe. That said, I have found that 99.99% of food bloggers and others in the industry give credit where it is due. On that note, I especially enjoy Lillian’s interpretation of my recipes via video on her site Lillian’s Test Kitchen. And kudos go to all the other bloggers out there doing what Lillian does day in and day out.
Unfortunately, sometimes things can go awry when it comes to recipe usage. And here’s an example of that. A couple of months ago, I received a comment from one of my readers regarding a recipe for gluten free pancakes on my website.
Oh, one odd thing… I used a brand of almond flour that I found at a local health food store called Dowd & Rogers and they had the exact same pancake recipe printed on the back of the bag. The only difference is that they said to mix in a blender (instead of saying the Vitamix brand). Not sure if it means anything but thought Elana may want to know…
That was a message from katie h, one of my readers, and I didn’t take it too seriously. However, weeks later, when I compared the two recipes I could see right away what she was talking about.
2 large eggs
¼ cup agave
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ cup water
1 ½ cups almond flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
grapeseed oil for sautéing
- In a vitamix, combine eggs, agave, vanilla and water and blend on high until smooth
- Add almond flour, salt and baking soda and blend again to incorporate dry ingredients into batter
- Warm grapeseed oil in a large skillet over medium heat
- Pour pancake batter onto skillet
- Pancakes will form little bubbles, when bubbles open, flip pancakes over and cook other side
- Remove from heat to a plate
- Repeat process with remaining batter, adding more oil to skillet as needed
* The funniest part of all this is that this isn’t my best pancake recipe
So, I contacted the parent company, the Neutraceutical Corporation of Dowd & Rogers and this is what I was told:
The law regarding copyrightability of food recipes is very clear: recipes are not copyrightable… In short, your letter alleging copyright protection in a recipe is completely meritless.
This legalese seems to be saying that Dowd & Rogers and their parent company the Neutraceutical Corporation can use as many of my (and your) recipes as they like to sell their products. And that they do not need to give any of us credit.
I have more than 350 recipes on this site and after receiving a letter such as the above start to wonder which one Dowd & Rogers will help themselves to next.
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I’m not a lawyer, however, something seems amiss here. Wonder if any of you have run into this as well.
Susan @ The Spice Garden says
Giving credit for recipes is simply the right thing to do … any blogger or company that resists that practice should rethink … I do admit that some of the recipes I have in my personal family cookbook are so old and well-loved that I don’t know where they came from, who passed them to me, whether they are from a published or ‘passed down’ source. That being said, if I use them, I try to state my ‘I don’t know’ confusion before I print them to the blog… it’s only fair.
Jan Buhrman says
AHHH! the power of the blog..
if each of us send Dowd and Rogers a note remarking on their comments and tell them how outrageous this is regardless of the law.. perhaps they will pay attention!
Jamie Ervin says
That’s ridiculous! I can’t believe they can steal a recipe and not give credit where credit is due!
We have your chocolate chip cookies in the oven right now… I’m very excited to see the finished product, the batter is quite tasty. I purchased Bob’s Red Mill prior to reading your disclaimer that it may not work as well, so I also ordered from Honeyville. I’m wondering if Bob’s may have changed their grinding technique, because so far, I can’t tell a difference in the finished products.
Stacie says
I am disgusted at the lack of integrity of Dowd & Rogers. I certainly won’t be purchasing any of their products in the future.
Beth says
Hi Elana,
I love your site, though this is my inaugural comment. It just so happens that this post coincides with my other life — that of a law student. I specifically remember flipping to the (very small) section of my materials in copyright class about recipes. I know the law is that ingredients aren’t copyrightable, but directions are, as several others have mentioned. Not sure how much it’s worth pursuing, but it might be good to keep in mind.
Given the number of readers and fans you have, it’s a shame the company didn’t take the high road. How hard is it, really, to give a little credit where it’s due? At any rate, I would much rather read the recipes on your site — along with your stories and pictures — than on the back of a package any day.
Take care and keep the inspiration coming!! I promise to (contine to) give you credit when one of your recipes has inspired one of my own : )
Beth
Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet says
I’ve had people take both my recipe, description, and pictures before and claim them as their own.
A frustrating thing to have happen!
Tamiko says
I won a local contest several years back using hazelnuts. I was contacted by the Oregon Hazelnut board asking for permission to use the recipe. They didn’t just help themselves to it. I’m appalled at this. I would seek the assistance of a lawyer on this and not just take their fancied up words for intellectual property theft.
Janeen says
Elana, I am so sorry this has happened. I don’t have a legal background, so I have no way of knowing if what Dowd & Rogers said is correct or not, but I definitely would not take their word for it.
Even if they are right, it doesn’t seem entirely ethical, and they are forgetting one very important thing: The audience they are playing to includes many of your loyal supporters. I won’t be buying anything from Dowd & Rogers as long as they are playing this game.
Lea Ann Brown says
First of all, I’m very glad to find your blog. I’m in Highlands Ranch and always nice to find another Colorado foodie.
I find this information very helpful. Even though I always credit the source, I still worry about reprinting recipes from other sources like major magazines.
I’m sorry to see the unethical standards from this company.
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten Free says
I read this post yesterday and I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit – last week I had a conversation with a friend in the publishing industry on this topic. He said that even if you publish a book your recipe can be copied and you’d lose in a court of law.
I have two opposing thoughts on this as a passionate cook and blogger –
1. As a passionate cook – who can own a pie crust recipe or a chocolate chip cookie recipe? Two people can make the same recipe and it will turn out completely different. Cooking has less to do with a recipe and more to do with the love of creating food you bring to the recipe. This is why people can make something and have it not “turn out” – the recipe most certainly works. It’s the cook behind the recipe that makes the food happen, not the recipe itself.
Can one own a technique that all good cooks use such as sweating onions or bringing eggs to room temperature by covering with warm water? I think not.
2. My totally opposite thought as a blogger and someone who works hard to create good, nutritious gluten free recipes – it makes my stomach turn when someone takes my recipes and publishes them as their own with no changes and no credit. My feed gets scraped with no way to contact the scraper.
In the end, though, my inspiration always comes from other great cooks. Cooking is a craft that is shared and handed down, one good cook to another. I hope that what I do inspires others. When someone else publishes a take on something I’ve done it’s almost always an improvement and that makes me smile.