Stop The Scourge Of Illegal 'Downwriting'

from the don't-they-have-camera-phones dept

Jon points us to an amusing photo highlighted by Reddit showing two older women sitting in a bookstore copying down recipes. The Daily What amusingly calls this "illegal downwriting." Just wait until these women discover camera phones.

Filed Under: cookbooks, copying

Once Again, You Cannot Copyright The Idea Of Sneaking Veggies Into Kids Food

from the and-what's-the-deal-with-that? dept

Last fall, we wrote about a court ruling that found that Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica Seinfeld, did not infringe on the copyrights of another cookbook author, when she published her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food -- all about ways to sneak healthy foods to your kids. She was sued by the woman who had written a similar cookbook, though with a very different style. For some reason, many people just can't get it through their heads that copyright covers the expression, not the idea. Hell, it doesn't even cover recipes (which are just lists of ingredients) unless there's great literary expression in the directions.

Seinfeld's book was apparently totally unlike the other book, and the court made this point clear. So what did the other cookbook author do? She appealed. Thankfully, Dan points us to the news that the appeals court quickly upheld the lower court's ruling, pointing out that there was no copyright infringement in just having a similar idea:

Stockpiling vegetable purees for covert use in children's food is an idea that cannot be copyrighted

Filed Under: cookbooks, copyright, jessica seinfeld

And What's The Deal With Copyright Misuse? Seinfeld Cookbook Doesn't Infringe

from the you-can't-copyright-an-idea dept

Do we need some sort of anti-SLAPP-type law against bogus copyright lawsuits over similar ideas rather than actual copying? We've seen quite a trend in such lawsuits especially concerning people who claim to have had an idea for a similar book, movie or TV show. But, of course, copyright is supposed to be clear: it's for the expression, not the idea. Of course, at times it's quite difficult to separate the two, and with our society always talking up "ownership" of content, it's perhaps no surprise that many people seem to think that they get to own certain ideas. And then they file lawsuits.

The latest such case involves Jessica Seinfeld, Jerry's wife, who published a cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." It's a pretty straightforward idea, and apparently the book has done well. That upset the author of another book on the same topic, who had apparently pitched the book idea (and had it rejected) by the publisher of Seinfeld's cookbook -- so she sued for copyright infringement. But, again, copyright doesn't cover ideas -- something you would think her lawyer would understand. Thankfully, the judge quickly tossed the case, while also taking the time to issue a bit of a thumbs-down review of the cookbook by the woman suing:

"Lapine's cookbook is a dry, rather text-heavy work," Judge Laura Taylor Swain of Federal District Court wrote in her review, while Ms. Seinfeld's "cookbook has a completely different feel and appears to be directed to a different audience."

On top of the ruling, interestingly, many people are recognizing that these types of lawsuits are really no more than PR stunts by the less-well-known author to jump on the publicity bandwagon of a best-selling author. Seinfeld's lawyers are claiming that the woman suing was just using the lawsuit as a publicity attempt, which is similar to what we've seen in other lawsuits like this one. That's why it makes sense to set up significant sanctions for actions like this, where it's clearly not a case of copyright infringement, and the lawsuit is almost certainly designed not to right some wrong, but to use the justice system as part of a PR campaign.

Filed Under: cookbooks, copyright, ideas, infringement, jessica seinfeld