For my Cottage Food Application packet, I have to include all recipes I plan to use. I have no "original" recipes. Are there copyright issues with using other people's recipes? I asked my regional manager from the state Department of Agriculture and he said that's not something they're concerned about. But should I be concerned about using recipes even if they've been published in books or shared on the internet publicly? I'm just wondering with all the copyright issues I've recently been reading about on this forum.

I also have a question about the labeling requirement. I already posted this question here but thought I'd tack it on again in case someone new reads it and has a response. It says that I need to include the net wt. of each product on the label. How did you all go about determining this, if you were required to? Did you bake each of your recipes and weigh each product? Or did you bake one or a few recipes and estimate the weight for the rest? I don't anticipate baking a lot of cakes in the next 6 months and even what I do bake, I probably won't cover every recipe I have. I'm just looking for an alternative to having to bake every single one of my recipes JUST to get a weight JUST to submit my packet.

Thank you for any advice/information! I'm a sponge!

A recipe (list of ingredients and quantities) cannot be copyrighted. You are fine there.

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html

There are different definitions for the word "copyright." You're thinking of recipe copyrights, which are written. (As Kelley mentioned, a list cannot be copyrighted). Or the use of baking pans which are restricted to home/personal use. I wrote a blog post Copyright Infringement and Recipe Use http://bakingfix.com/thefix/?p=4093

I answered your weight question and now I see more clearly what you want. That is still a question for the HD/Dept of Ag. But no, you cannot estimate on products not baked. All of my cakes weigh a different amount. If they want the weight, you need to be accurate. I thought you meant do you have to weigh every cupcake.

You really need clarification on this. They may mean you need to include it on your label only, so then you won't need the weight until after you bake it.

Thank you kelleym and MimiFix!

scp1127: I hope I didn't come across as ignoring your responses to my previous post. I am appreciative and so grateful for you and others like you who generously share your knowledge and experience with the rest of us. I will call around and get clarification on this issue. The way I read it in my packet and the way my regional manager from the state Dept of Ag explained it to me is that I do need to include the net wt. on my labels that I submit with my application. It just seems unreasonable to me. I will make a few more calls though.
Thank you!