[Trine Posts: 100 Status: Offline WWW]

     I want to include a recipe in the back of a picture book. It is a traditional Swedish recipe with many many recipes available on the Internet. If it is not my own creation, is a recipe from the internet copyrighted?   

[Anne Marie Posts: 3,034 Status: Offline VAMPIRINA has arrived on Disney Junior! WWW]

Recipes can't be copyrighted, but the particular words used to describe them can be.  So you could use the same list of ingredients but you can't copy the directions word for word.

That said, I'd still cite your source just to be fair.  I've had recipes published that I worked really hard to perfect and I'd like credit when my work is shared.

[Trine Posts: 100 Status: Offline WWW]

Thank you for the help. That makes sense! 

[Betsy Posts: 2,502 Status: Offline PICKY EATERS WWW]

One of my editors once told me that you have to change three ingredients for a recipe to be considered original. That's usually pretty easy to do, even for me, and I'm not much of a cook.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,839 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Ama, there is an Ask a Lawyer section in the SCBWI Only part of the boards. This sort of question is perfect for that section. Good luck.