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From: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Newsgroups: net.cooks,net.legal
Subject: Re: Copyright and cookbooks
Message-ID: <558@mtxinu.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Mar-86 13:35:25 EST
Article-I.D.: mtxinu.558
Posted: Mon Mar 24 13:35:25 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Mar-86 01:31:11 EST
References: <5475@glacier.ARPA> <5145@alice.uUCp>
Reply-To: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley, CA
Lines: 21
Xref: watmath net.cooks:6309 net.legal:3174

>I don't believe it.  Are you saying that the copyright law has a
>specific treatment of recipes?  Otherwise, my understanding is that
>a paraphrase is a copy.

The way I've heard it described by lawyers is that copyright protects
a representation, but not an idea.  A paraphrase might or might not
be a copy for copyright purposes - it depends on the circumstances.

As I understand it, if one looks at the copyrighted original and
cribs a paraphrase from it, that is a violation.  If one reads the
original, puts it away, and then at a later time writes a paraphrase,
there is no violation.

People have been known to lose lawsuits by keeping records of cribbing
a copy.

-- 
Ed Gould                    mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed   +1 415 644 0146

"A man of quality is not threatened by a woman of equality."