ethical question re: teaching recipes

[FistFullaRoux]

Thorny problem, but has similarities to musical performances. My background is in the music business, so keep that in mind.

You cannot decorate a cake with a Disney character without paying licensing fees. You can, however, decorate a cake with a mouse. Just not Disney's mouse.

A garage band can play Art Garfunkel songs all day. But they cannot put them on a record without the copyright holders permission.

Saying that something is copyrighted does not mean it would hold up legally. Copyrighting is a process that must be followed. Licensing is negotiated with the owner of the copyright.

All that being said... If a copyrighted recipe is given to you, and you were expected to learn and make it, the person who gave you the recipe cannot expect to come back and say "You can never make this again", unless you are required to license the recipe. In that case, you are using a licensed product which can be pulled according to whatever agreement you have with the license holder. This does not necessarily mean that you can teach the recipe to anyone else, but you tacitly have permission to use it, and make money from selling the results of that use, unless the license states differently.

If the recipe is not copyrighted or licensed, the whole discussion is a moot point. In that case, most people, I think, would consider it public domain.