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1: Appeals Court Upholds Ruling in Seinfeld Cookbook Case
First off today, Jessica Seinfeld, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has won her copyright case against a fellow cookbook author, Missy Chase Lapine. Lapine sued Jessica Seinfeld after she published a cookbook entitled “Deceptively Delicious” that Lapine claimed was an infringement of her earlier work,”The Sneaky Chef” as both had recipes for slipping vegetables into children’s food. The Appeals court ruled that the lower court was correct in saying that idea was not copyrightable. However, a defamation case against Jerry Seinfeld over comments said on a late night television show is still pending.
2: Google Wins ‘Thumbnail’ Images Ruling in German Court
Next up today, Google won a major case in Germany, where the country’s highest civil court found that Google’s use of thumbnails in its image search results, was permissible under copyright law. According to the court, when webmasters publish images to their site without technological mechanisms to prevent indexing, they are giving an implied license to have the content used in that way. This follows two lower courts said much the same and similar verdicts in the U.S.
3: Piracy Problems? Music Industry Grew in 13 Markets in 2009
Finally today, a study put forth by the IFPI shows that the music industry actually bucked the trend and grew 13 markets, including in Australia, Mexico, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, and Brazil. This includes countries, such as Sweden and the UK, where strong new enforcement rules were passed but also countries like Australia, where piracy enforcement has suffered setbacks.
Suggestions
That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.
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So a somewhat related question then. Recipes… copyrightable?I know like a pattern for sewing or crochet or something is copyrightable but not the item made from it, are recipes the same? Or is a recipe considered an idea?
The line between an idea and a derivative work is a blurry one similar to fair use. The current test is whether an ordinary observer would be able to tell that the latter was based upon the former. In this case, it was an idea that could have easily been come up with independently and there's no proof that she got the idea from her or created a derivative work.Still it can be a blurry area. Just remember that ideas can not be copyrighted, just expressions.
In the Seinfeld case and others like it: At the risk of asking a dumb question–What do they use to determine what is just an "idea"?