Exercise 1: What Parts of a Recipe Are Copyrightable? — Possible Solution ==================================================================== THE INGREDIENT LIST ITSELF: NOT PROTECTABLE ------------------------------ Per this chapter, facts are not protectable by copyright - "discovered, not created." A bare list of ingredients and quantities (2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 3 eggs) is functionally a list of facts about what substances and amounts are needed to produce a result. It's also extremely close to the merger doctrine's own territory - there are only so many ways to state "2 cups of flour" as a bare fact, so even setting the facts-aren't-protectable rule aside, an ingredient list's plain factual statement has essentially no room for creative expression to attach to in the first place. THE DESCRIPTIVE, NARRATIVE TEXT: POTENTIALLY PROTECTABLE ------------------------------ Per this chapter, copyright protects "the specific, particular expression of an idea." The recipe's surrounding descriptive prose - personal anecdotes about the dish, stylistic instructions ("gently fold the batter until just combined, being careful not to overmix"), creative descriptions of flavor or presentation - is original creative expression, not a bare factual statement, and can meet this chapter's own originality requirement (independently created, with some minimal creative judgment involved in how it's phrased). WHY THE DISTINCTION MATTERS ------------------------------ This maps directly onto the idea/expression dichotomy the chapter opens with: the underlying method or procedure (the "idea" of how to make the dish, and the factual list of what's needed) is not protectable, while the author's own particular way of describing and explaining that method (the "expression") can be. Someone could independently create their own recipe using the same ingredients in the same proportions without infringing anything, but directly copying the original author's descriptive prose word-for-word would raise a real infringement concern. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ It applies this chapter's own facts-aren't-protectable rule to the ingredient list specifically, applies the idea/expression dichotomy to the descriptive prose specifically, and explains why the two parts of the same document are treated so differently under the exact same underlying principle rather than arbitrarily.