In [Publications International, Ltd. v. Meredith Corp. 88 F.3d 473 (7th Cir. 1996) ], the court stated that a functional list of ingredients cannot be considered original within the meaning of the Copyright Act.

In Lambing v. Godiva Chocolatier, 142 F. 3d 434 (6th Cir. 1998) [Lambing], the court stated plainly that recipes are not protected by copyright, completely ignoring the possibility that a recipe could contain enough expressive elements to make it copyrightable.

Canadian courts have not yet addressed the issue of copyright in recipes […]. Under Canadian copyright law, facts, formulas, and ideas are not protected by copyright. This means that just like in the U.S., recipes which only list ingredients (facts) and the steps that one takes to complete the recipe (formulas) are likely not protected by copyright in Canada.

Based on current Canadian copyright law and the leading caselaw on the subject in the U.S., a list of ingredients or matter-of-fact instructions regarding the process of creating a recipe is unlikely to be protected by copyright law.

[…] you can’t copyright a recipe […]