gardengrl, There is no such thing as copyright on information or ideas. Copyright applies only to a written or other form of expression in a "fixed form." In other words, what is under copyright in the BBB and other published books is the *arrangement of words*. It is in NO WAY a breach of copyright or otherwise against intellectual property laws to MAKE the recipes and sell the food --- you're in the clear! (As others have suggested, food safety regulations may be a different story.) Now, it would, as has been suggested, be illegal for you to print off exact copies of the recipes and distribute them. Though if you describe making the exact same recipe in your own wording --- and you can't just change a word or two, it needs to be reasonably different --- then you could print and even sell that if you wanted. The actual *food-making technique* isn't protected, just the wording. Zabby, glad that the arcane knowledge she has gained as an editor occasionally comes in useful in the real world

The fact that other houses might "look like this" is not necessarily the standard a court would use to determine if a copyright infringement had occurred. The usual test is if the building is "substantially similar". Courts have used the "ordinary observer" or "overall look and feel" test, under which two works will be substantially similar if a "reasonable, ordinary observer, upon examination of the two works, would 'conclude that the defendant unlawfully appropriated the plaintiff's protectable expression'." In this instance the contractor would need to show how he could have arrived at a virtually identical arrangement of unprotectable design elements without relying on the previously published work of Connor Homes. If the work was registered before the infringement occurred the author could collect statutory damages and attorney's fees instead of just an award of actual damages for lost profits and criminal penalties could apply if the infringement was willful.

http://www.catchlock.com/ Image Protection and Copyright [Ask a Question] Don't put your work in a public access album, if you want to put it online put it only in a secure lockable password access album that you can share by use of a password. If you put it out there where everyone can see it and all the search engines can access it then there is not a lot you can do. You can set up your photobucket to be secure and for personal use only and not shared or linked to. Most all have the option of do you want to share or not. You can of course notify the site that is using your picture and tell them about it and tell them if they want to use it how much it will cost them. In this digital age proving you have the original is not as easy as it once was. There are ways to embed in the code of the actual picture your identifying info. Best thing is to not put your photos online period if you do not want someone somewhere to use or take them. There is truly very little that can be done once it is out there. Can you afford the time and money involved in trying to police them? What if it was stolen by someone in Russia or China? rules vary and fighting those kinds of battles are hopeless. Only using very low resolution copies of your originals is what should be done with any image, that way when they are stolen all they have is a very low res image that they can not do much with.

Thank you for to those that emailed me asking about this. It is illegal to give away copies of patterns. It is illegal to have copies in your possession without having the original in your possession as well. Yes what is being offered is illegal. Please see www.copyright.gov for more details. The FAQ section is wonderful for most questions, and as already mentioned I'll help out in any way I can to answer copyright questions. Copyright infringement costs everyone money and causes designers to go out of business. Those who think it is no big deal may change their mind when they are on the other end of a lawsuit with very big fines. More and more companies are taking it seriously. EMS, Pat Carson of Gloria and Pat, myself and my company White Willow Stitching, Disney, Warner Brothers and a few other pop into my head. A case will soon be before the courts for over 100,000.00 Is sharing copies really worth losing everything? Is designers quitting the business because of all the illegal activity being too much of a hassle worth illegally sharing? You can give away or sell any original, but copies are illegal without owning the original.